s::^^^ 




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DliAI.KK IN 

jodts, \\\\]\% IVi'iii'iik Still loiiiT), liiiiii'siila "im, 

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Moccasins, Scalps, Pipes, Bows, Arrows, Quivers, Toma- 
hawks, Buckskin Dresses, Shirts, Leggins 
and War Bonnets, 
ALL KINDS OF liKAI) WORK. 

MERCHANTS HOTEL, - ST. PAUL, MINN. 

Ir'ost Oflice ^Va<Ji-es.s, Box G-. 

THE TOURIST AND SPORTSMANr 



^he ojtLij. JPLLiL&tiLated <0'lzo±tuL(^ and Sf luninei nte&ojt SPa/w^ 

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PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT $2.00 A YEAI!. xi.Od FOR SIX MONTHS. 

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25 South Second St., 2d floor. ]Millliea poU;^, AriuiL. 



THE MAGIC NOIITHLAMD. 



II ILLUSTRJ^TED GUIDE FOR TOURISTS 



TO THE 



^ 




m 




EST. 



EMBRACING DESCPJITIONS OF THE CLIMATE, THE HEALTH AND PLEASURE RESORTS, 

HUNTING FIELDS, LAKES, RIVERS, WATERFALLS, AND OTHER 

POINTS OF INTEREST IN 



MINNESOTA, A¥ISCONSIN AND DAKOTA. 



?^ 

BY A. S. piMOND, 

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER OF THE TOURIST AND SPORTSMAN. 



\ 



-1 ii-'(> j i' 



MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 
HOPPIN, PALMER & DIMOND, PUBLISH|ERS. 

1881. 



??ldJ-i/, 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year iSSi, by A. S. Dimond, 
in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



^ 






Seoond Editicn. 
35th Thousand. 



INDEX. 



A Famous Group, 55 

Agricultural College, tis 

Atrrioult ural Products, 91 

Albert Lea, 123 

Alexandria, 115 

Anchor Mill, 5!) 

Augsburg Seminary, Minneapolis, •">« 

Baid Eagle Lake,.". 10.! 

Banking Houses, 05 

Between IMinneapolis and St. Paul anfl the 

Dalles of the St. Croix and Lake Superior, 101 

Big Medicine Spring, 81 

"Big Water," 8,s 

Boarding Houses, 97 

Bridal Veil Falls 53 

Bueiia Vista, 

Building Statistics, 65 

Cataract Mill, 59 

Cedar Lake 80 

Chicago tt Northwestern Railroad Company,. 29 
Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha R. R. 

Offices 75 

Chisago Lakes, 105 

Churches, 69 

City Finances, 65 

Crane Island 93 

Crown Roller Mill, .56 

Dalles of the St. Croix, 108 

Dalles of the St. Louis, Ill 

Deaf, Dumb and Blind Asylum, 32 

Duluth. City of, 113 

Educational, 31 

Educational, 67 

Empire Mill, 59 

Excelsior, 89 

Excelsior Blill, 59 

Exemption Laws 33 

Extracts from Address of J. Mattocks Brewer, 11 

Extracts from Address of J Murphy, M. D.,. . 12 

Extracts from Address of Talbot Jones, M. D. 17 

Fairview House, O.sakis Lake, 78 

Fire Department, 65 

Fishing and Hunting on the Upper St. Croix, 125 

Forest Lake, 104 

Fort Snelling, 84 

Galaxy Mill, 59 

Goose Lake, 101 

Government Lands and How to Obtain Them, 25 

Hamline University, 76 

Heron Lake, 119 

Holly Mill 59 

Homes in the Northwest, 25 

Home of the Sportsman, 125 

Hospital for Insane, 32 

Hotels, 97 

Hotel Harrow, 96 

Hotel St. Louis, 96 

How to Reach the New Northwest, 7 

Ice Crop, 65 

Indians in Minnesota 32 

Introductory, 5 

Iowa, 128 

Iowa City Park, 90 

Lakes Calhoun and Harriet, 79 

Lake Como, 77 

Lake Crystal 121 

Lake Elmo, 122 

Lake Minnetonka, 87 

Lake of the Isles, 80 

Lake Park, 91 

Lindekes, Warner tt Schurmeier Block, 74 

Live Stock, 65 

Manufactures, 34 

Manufactures, 63 



Medicine Lake, so 

Minneapolis and its Suburbs, 3.5 

IMinneapolis Mill, ] 59 

■Minneliaha ]''alls, ''" 32 

I\Iinneoi>a Falls, 121 

JMinnesota, ' ' . 128 

Minnesota Central, Hastings & Dakota and 

St. Paul & Chicago Railroads, 27 

Minnesota Fish Hatchery, [ 77 

Minnesota, Its Advantages as a resort tor 

Invalids, 9 

Minnesota University, 32 

Minnetonka Lake Park Hotel, % 

Minnetonka Mills, .59 

Miscellaneous, 34. 

Model Mill '.!.'.'!'.'.!.'.'" 60 

New Giltillan Block, \/// 72 

New Kelly Block, '. .' .'.'.' ./.,,[ 73 

Newspapers, .......'. 65 

Normal Schools, 32 

Northern Pacific Railroad Company, ....... 30 

Northwestern Mill ' cq 

Old Pilisbury, or "Pillsbury B" Mill,. . .' .' .''"."." 60 

Osakis Lake, [' 114 

Osceola, .....'.'.'.'.. 108 

Other Agricultural Products of 1879,. ....... 31 

Palisade Mill, GO 

Parker's Lake, 80 

"Park Region," lU 

Passenger Steamers, 97 

Pettit Mill 60 

Phcenix Mill eo 

Pillsbury "A" Mill, '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. .57 

Population " 27 

Prices of Wheat during 18d0, 34 

Railroads, !!!!'.!! 27 

Railroad Lands, 27 

Random Sketches of Past and Present,". ..... 61 

Reform School, " 30 

St. Anthony Falls, 45 

St. Anthony Falls Water Power Co., ' .. 51 

St. Paul City Market " " " 71 

St. Paul it Duluth Railroad, '...'. 28 

Saint Paul and Its Environs, " 71 

St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railroad,. 28 

Silver Cascade, 39 

Sioux Falls, Dakota, 120 

Synop.sis of Game Laws, 128 

Spring Park, " 91 

Standard Mill, \[[\ 56 

State Prison, 32 

Street Railways, ,/_ 65 

Suspension Bridge, 62 

Taylors Falls, 109 

The Flouring Mills, '.',[[ 54 

The Hermitage 94 

"The Land of Promise," 119 

The Platform, .53 

The St. Croix Valley, 106 

The Stillwater & St. Paul Railroad Compa- 
ny's Lands, 31 

The Water Works, .' ; ; 53 

Totals of Acreage and Crops of 1879, and 

Acreage of issii, 34 

Trade Steam Mill, 60 

Union Mill, 60 

University of Minnesota, 67 

Unoccupied Lands, 25 

Wayzata, 87 

Where We Rusticate, 79 

Wliite Bear Lake, 99 

Wisconsin, 128 

Worthington, Minnesota, 122 

Zenith Mill, 60 



I 



Introductory. 




HE nipid development and settlement of the New North- 
west has attracted capitalists to large and remunerative 
fields of investment, one of the results of which has been 
the construction of new lines of railway through sections 
of Minnesota, Dakota and Manitoba, that were before inac- 
cessible to the ordinary traveler. By these additional facil- 
ities for traveling, immense tracts of fertile land have been 
opened to settlement, and the farmers enabled to reach the 
markets with their products ; hundreds of beautiful lakes, 
heretofore comparatively unknown, and many of our rivers, the 
scenery of which is unrivalled in attractions, are brought v/ithiu 
reach of the tourist from any part of the continent ; the sportsman 
has placed before him a land tilled with game of all kinds— a land 
as wild as nature can produce, yet traversed by the most modem 
and luxurioiis of traveling equipages, which set him down in the 
midst of a forest where deer, bear and lynx will give him sufficient 
I |I|S^^ occupation, or on the vast plains where antelope and buffalo range,. 
y^^ find when his hunt has ended, return him to civilization. 
xjJjV*' It is now only necessary to show the attractiveness of this new 

<^*V^ country fairly to health and jjleasure seekers, emigrants seeking- 
*^< ^ cheap and good homes, and to sportsmen to increase the tide of trave^ 

which has already turned in this direction. To assist in this we have compiled tliis 
"Guide." The information it contains has been selected from reliable sources, much 
of it having been gathered by the writer during the five years' publication of The: 
TouiiiST AND Spoktsman, from personal observation. We have endeavored to be- 
brief so as not to be tiresome, and have rather underrated than magnified the beauty 
and attractiveness of the country. The pleasure and health to be derived from a,- 
summer spent at the fore.st-gii't lakes, among the rugged hills, along the rivers, or oni 
the wonderful wheat farms of the Magic Northland, cannot be overrated ; no lan- 
guage can exaggerate its attractiveness, and the visitor who spends his summer in. 
the Northwest will say, "The half has not been told of its wondrous beauty." 

We have already issued one edition of thirty thousand copies of "Magic North- 
land," the matter in which was confined to descriptions of Minnesota summer resorts^ 
In this edition we present additional features of interest, and in subsequent editions 
shall endeavor to make our information as complete as possible to the time of publi- 
cation. 

2 5 



The Ma^ie Nortfiland, 



pow to gcach the gcw gorthv/c6t. 



JOUENEY to the Novtliwest, at tlie present time, is accom- 
panied by so many pleasant incidents that the time seems 
unexpectedly short, and the traveler reaches his destination 
almost without fatigiie, and prejDared to attend to business 
or enjoy the delights of our rural homes. 

The passenger business has increased to an extent that 
required the adoption by the railway companies of all the 
modern improvements for comfort, safety and sjaeed, and 
perfecting arrangements with connecting lines so as to avoid 
delays. Through tickets are sold and baggage checked between all prin- 
cipal stations in the East, South and Soiithwest and Canada, and those 
of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Dakota and Manitoba. New railway lines 
in the Northwest are spreading in all directions, several hundred miles 
having been built in the last two years to afford immigi-ants an oppor- 
tunity to get lands, and to give them outlets to markets for their ijro- 
duce. As a matter of fact the Northwest is fully up to the demands of 
travel in this respect, as will be noted by reference to the railway statis- 
tics elsewhere in this work. 

FKOM CHICAGO TO MINNESOTA. 

There are now three lines of railway from Chicago to St. Paul and Minneapolis, 
by which passengers are carried through without change of cars, at the same rates of 
fare and with but little variation in time. Each has its peculiar advantages, and all 
pass through country rich in picturesque and admirable scenery, and presenting 
many novel and interesting things to attract the attention. 

The trains of the line known as the "Short Line," composed of the Chicago, Bur- 
lington and Quincy, the Burlington, Cedar Eapids and Northern, and the Minneap- 
olis and St. Louis Kailways, leave Chicago from the Union Depot on the lake shore, 
and pass through Central Illinois to Burlington, Iowa, thence across the grand prai- 
ries of Iowa to Albert Lea, Minnesota ; the route from the latter point to Minneapolis 
l^assing through a rich agricultural district, divided into prairie and woodland, with 
numerous lakes and streams to vary the landscape. This routed presents to the trav- 
eler a variety of scenery, passing, as it does, through thickly settled parts of the three 
great garden States of the West, where all branches of northern agricultural pursuits 
may be viewed in their best and most ijrogressive phases. 

The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Company operate two lines of railway from 
Chicago to St. Paul and Minneapolis, from which points their Hastings and Dakota 




8 How to Reach the New Northwest. 

Division extends to the Territory of Dalcota and tlie Far West. By tliis route 
the passenger is carried through tlie richest portions of Illinois, Wisconsin and Min- 
nesota, passing tlirough Oconomowoc and other Wisconsin Avatering places. 

The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Line traverses a portion of Wis- 
consin unsurpassed for picturesque scenery, embracing many fine lakes, important 
lumbering streams, trout brooks, and magnificent forests. On this line are the noted 
watering places of Geneva Lake, Madison, Devil's Lake, Baraboo, L ike Winnebago, 
and Sparta. 

Connecting at St. Louis Avith all leading railways from paints South, East and 
West, the "Short Line," composed of the Cliicago, Burlington and Quincy, the Bur- 
lino-ton, Cedar Eapids and Northern, and the Minneapolis ifc St. Louis Railways, form 
a through line to Minneapolis and St. Paul. This route is from St. Louis via Burling- 
ton, Cedar Eapids and Albert Lea, to Minneapolis, passing through the finest regions 
of the West. Arrangements have been made with all leading railwaj^s to ticket and 
check through, and the passenger makes the journey in luxurious coaches, surrounded 
by all the safeguards of modern invention. 

From Omaha and other southwestern points, the traveler reaches Minnesota over 
the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Line, through a grand and attractive country, 
where, at some points, vast fields of wheat stretch as far as the eye can see ; and new 
farms, new manufactories, and new towns may be seen in rapid succession, present- 
ino- evidences of enterprise peculiar to western people, and not surpassed except by 
the growing regions of Western Minnesota and Dakota. 

One of the pleasantest routes to Minnesota during the summer is that from St. 
Louis to St. Paul bj' steamers on the Mississippi, and many prefer this mode of travel. 
If one has leisure, it is enjoyable. 

A trip by the Great Lakes from Chicago to Duluth, and thence to St. Paul over 
the St. Paul and Duluth Eailway, or to Minneapolis via the Minneapolis and St. Louis 
Railway, forms one of the grandest excursions on the American continent, including, 
as it does, all the leading ports on Lakes Michigan and Superior. The increase of 
business by this route has been doubling up, until the demand calls for a large num- 
ber of steamers. One of the transportation companies has increased its number of 
vessels to twelve, most of which are first-class steamers, magnificent in equipment, 
and affording accommodations equal to those found in the finest hotels. They con- 
nect with railway lines at Ashland and Duluth for the summer resorts of Wisconsin 
and Minnesota. 

FKOM MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL. 

From the two principal cities of Minnesota, the traveler may reach nearly all 
points in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Dakota and Manitoba by lines of railway which, 
although comparatively new, are equal to the best of western roads . 

The St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Company operate two lines, passing 
through the magnificent Park Region of Minnesota to Dakota, and Manitoba. By 
this line the great wheat farms of Western Minnesota and Eastern Dakota, and many 
of the pleasantest summer resorts — notably Lake Minnetonka and the lakes of Otter 
Tail and Douglas counties— may be reached. 

The Northern Pacific Eailwav traverses a large portion of Minnesota and Dakota, 
northward and Avestward of St. Paul, and is rapidly stretching out its arms into the 
Far West. It has a branch from Brainerd to Duluth, by Avhich a large portion of the 
grain products from the great wheat farms among which it passes, are carried for 
shipment by the Lakes to the seaboard. The great National Park will probably be 
reached by another year, which AviU open up to the tourist the most wonderful region 
on the globe. 



How to Reach, the New Northwest. 9 

The St. Piml, jMinneapolis and Omaha Company operate a line of railway from 
St. Paul to Stillwater, by which Lake Elmo and the Valley of the St. Croix is reached. 

The Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway have recently extended a line from Albert 
Lea to Fort Dodge, Iowa, passing through a comparatively new country. 

The Lyndale, Lake Calhoun and Lake Minnetonka Railway Company, ojierate a 
nan-ow-gauge line — with steam motors— from Minneapolis to Lakes Calhoun and 
Harriet. An extension of the line to Lake Minnetonka will T)e made early this season. 

The Hastings and Dakota branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Com- 
pany, beginning at Hastings, runs through a new but rapidly gi'owing region to Big 
Stone Lake, and thence into Dakota. 

Following is a statement of railroads within the State, with number of miles in 
operation, and points of termini. Januarj' 1, 1881: 

Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. 

Niime of Roml. FKOM TO Mllen. 

River Division La Crescent St. Paul laOAl 

River Division— Short Line St. Paul Minneapolis 10.30 

Iowa iVr Minnesota Division Minneapolis Iowa Line (Le Roy) 130.5i 

Iowa & iMinnesota Division St. Paul Junction St. Paul 5.61 

Iowa & Minnesota Division Austin Iowa Line (Lyle) 11.37 

Hastings it Dakota Division Hastings Ortonville 202.41 

Waljasha Division Wabasha Zumbrota 59.00 

Southern Minnesota Grand Crossing Dakota Line 297.25 

Central Railroad ot Minnesota Mankato Wells 40.00 

Chicago, Clinton, Dubuque & Minnesota Iowa Line La Crescent 25.00 

Caledonia, Mississippi A: Western C, C, D. & M. Junction. Pieston 58.71 

St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Line. 

St. Paul & Sioux City St. Paul St. James 121.27 

Sioux City & St. Paul St. James Iowa Line 66.25 

Worthington & Sioux Falls Near Worthington Dakota Line 42.53 

Blue Earth City Branch Lake Crystal. Elmore 43.50 

Rock River Branch Luverne Iowa Line 10.00 

Minnesota & Black Hills Heron Lake Woodstock 44.00 

St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's Falls St. Paul Stillwater 17.55 

Stillwater Junction Lake St. Croix 3.25 

StUlwater Bridge 5.50 

St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway. 

Main Line Minneapolis Junction Breckenridge 207.10 

Branch Line St. Paul Sauk Rapids 75.75 

St. Vincent Extension East St. Cloud St. Vincent & N. Boundary 319.62 

Red River & Manitoba Breckenridge Barnesville 30.00 

Red River Valley Crookston Junction Grand Forks 24.56 

Branch Barnesville Moorhead 22.24 

Branch fliorris Brown's Vallej' 47.50 

St. Paul (£• Duluth Railroad. 

St. Paul & Duluth St. Paul Duluth 156.00 

Stillwater & St. Paul White Bear Stillwater 13.00 

Knife Falls Branch Northern Pacific June Knife Falls 6.00 

Taylor's Falls & Lake Superior Railroad Wyoming Taylor's Falls 20.30 

Northern Pacific Railroad. 

Northern Pacific Northern Pacific June Moorhead 229.50 

Western, or Brainerd Branch Sauk Rapids Brainerd 60..50 

Minneapolis tfc St. Louis Railroad. 

Minneapolis & St. Louis Minneapolis Albert Lea 108.00 

Minneapolis & Duluth Minneapolis White Bear 15.00 

Branch Albert Lea Iowa Line 13. 5C 

Winona tfc St. Peter Railroad. 

Winona & St. Peter Winona Dakota Line 288.50 

Winona, Mankato & New Ulm Mankato Junction Mankato 3.75 

Plainvie w Plain view Junction Plainview 15.01 

Chatfleld Chatfieid Junction Chatfield 11.46 

Rochester & Northern Minnesota Rochester Zumbrota 24.48 

Minnesota Valley Sleepv Eye Redwood Falls '24.40 

Chicago & Dakota Tracy Dakota Line 46.38 

Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern. . . Iowa Line Albert Lea 12.50 

Total number of miles 3,099.59 




^^S«j. 




Chested Ceeek Falls, neak Lake Supeeioe. 




MINNESOTA, 



Tt6 SdVantagcA a6 a KcAort for |nvalid6. 



^"rT seems to be one of the leading charac- 
j'l teristics of our American people to be al- 
iiL ways seeking a change of scene; and it 
has been often said that about one-fourth of 
the population of the country were to be 
found in the cars, on steamboats, or in stages, 
every day, journeying for business, health or 
pleasure. While the greater number are bent 
on business, those traveling for their health, 
seeking by change of scene and climate a cure 
for physical ailments, largely outnumber the 
pleasure seekers. Almost every public ve- 
hicle, at all times of the year— whether it be 
the ocean steamer or the railway car — will be 
found to embrace in its list of passengers a 
full quota of invalids. Those who live in the 
colder countries of the North, seek the genial 
climes of the Southern States or foreign re- 
sorts in the winter. While those of the South 
seek to escape the perils of fever and malarial 
diseases in the hot months, by a pilgrimage 
to the cooler zones of the North. 

While climate is a most important consider- 
ation to the business man, emigrant and pleas- 
ure seeker, it is far more important to those 
enfeebled by disease, and for this reason we 
have sought, in compiling this little work, to 
select our statistics from the writings of those 
who have made the treatment of invalids a 
study, so that none may be misled by unreli- 
able statements. 

Minnesota, like every other section, has its 
full share of acute afflictions, and while in old 
territorial days it was said of certain sections 
that it became necessary to kill some one to 
start a village burying ground, because it was 
too healthy for any one to die a natural death. 



12 Minnesota as a Health. Resort. 

we cannot boast of that now — the burying grounds have all got a good start ;' 
but there are many kinds of disease which are not peculiar to the country, and 
which are relieved by a residence here. Of these we may mention malarial 
fevers and pulmonary diseases, on which our climate has frequentl)'- a favorable 
effect. As to the causes, and the effects in different localities sought by inva- 
lids, we give extracts from a lecture before the medical society of Peoria, 111., 
by J. Murphy, M, D., a resident of that city, who says : 

The study of climate in relation to its influence on disease is one of the most interesting and 
important which can occiipy the attention of the physician. When we consider that there is a class 
of disease which in ordinary climate is almost invariably fatal, and, further, when we consider that 
this class is a very numerous one, and fatal beyond any other, and when we are aware that this 
class of disease is a progressive one — that is, it is becoming more frequent every year in every fixed 
population, and when we know that certain climatic conditions are favorable to this disease, at 
least as an adjunct to other remedial agents, it is impossible to over-estimate its interest and im- 
portance. 

The class of diseases to which I refer are those affecting ^he pulmonary organs— the throat and 
lungs, which usually baffle every hygienic, dietic and medical treatment which the most accom- 
plished physician can practice, which literally reckon their victims by hecatombs, and the bare 
mention of the mortality from which would shock our humanity and almost stagger our belief. 

If there is any, climate which will aid to any extent in lessening the ravages of consumption, 
both science and humanity demand that that climate be immediately utilized. It is unfortunate 
lor the medical profession, as well as for the public, that the ideas of medical men on the subject 
of climate, as bearing on disease, have not been more firmly fixed and more absolutely maintained. 
If a man has consumption, he has a right to ask, and be informed, where he should go to be bene- 
fitted. Is it not time that the question of locality should be definitely settled? That it has not 
been settled long ago is a blot and degradation on the medical profession, and the thinking portion 
of the public consider it as such. Ever since consumption commenced its ravages, a change o£ 
climate has been recommended; but, unfortunately, no particular climate can be settled on. 

Until within a recent period, we sent our consumptive patients to the tropics, only, however, to 
deteriorate or die; and we should blush that it should have been a non-professional man — the late 
N. P. WilUs— who first demonstrated the folly of such a course. Fashionable eastern physicians 
still send their consumptives to Madeira, to Torquay, to almost every point on the sombre and 
dingy shores of the Mediterranean, from the Pillars of Hercules to the Bosphorus, besides Algiers 
and Tunis. Others, again, recommend Cuba and Florida; San Antonio, Texas; New Mexicoj 
Colorado, California and Minnesota. 

Unfortunately, we have no positive data to enable us to know with any degree of certainty what 
relative influence those different localities have over lung diseases; but we do know that the pro 
rata fatalty of the disease rather increases than diminishes, proving, iindoubtedly, that a removal 
to a majority, at least, of those localities produces no beneficial effects. We know, also, that in 
several of those places, consumption, at least, occasionally occurs as an epidemic disease, which, 
except the principle of like curing like be true, almost precludes the possibility of those already 
laboring under the disease being benefitted by a residence there. 

To determine the question of locality, the inductive system of reasoning is just as valuable and 
decisive as it is in philosophy and logic. Unfortunately the very term climate is liable to infinite 
misconception, and has generated much confusion. This is a very simple word, apparently ; but 
it is really one of the most complicated in the language. Every physical phenomenon presented 
by a country — its geographical position, topography, altitvide, character of soil and subsoil, river 
system, with reference especially to its drainage facilities and rapidity of current, the mean tem- 
perature of the different seasons ; the dryness or moistness of the air, the mean force of the air 
currents at different seasons, the number of calm days during the year, and especially in summer, 
whether the winds often change their direction, the forest system of the State, and a multitude 
of other phenomena which might be enumerated, are all, so to speak, conn)onent parts of the cU- 
mate, and mutually exert a powerful influence on its composition and character. 

In the first place we must ascertain, as far as our experience and observation may ena1)le us, 
what climatic considerations are most favorable to consumption. In making this estimate, we 
must always remember that consumption is a disease of debility; that every one laboring under 
this disease is already weak, and that whatever has a tendency to increase the existing prostration 
is positively injurious. We want a climate from which malaria is entirely exempt — the depressing 
effects of this agent operating most imfavorably on this disease. I am aware that there were at one 
time, and possibly may be still, some men, calling themselves physicians, who considered that 



Minnesota as a Health. Resort. 13 

there was an autagouism bctwoen malaria and consumption to tlu,' advantage of the latter. Such 
admirable ignorance, however, it would be an act of unpardonable stupidity to confute. A dry 
atmosphere is also required — not dry to aridity, because a perfectly dry air i.s positively irritating 
to the lungs, and has a tendency to render the whole system feverish. A moist, cold air, by chilling 
the integument, drives the blood into the internal organs, and favors congestion, while moist, 
warm air has a positively depressing eifect on the system. Both lower the vitality of the body, 
producing feeble action and insufficient nutrition. A moist atmosphere contains less oxygen 
than a dry one, and less of that life-giving principle, ozone. It is this excess of moisture in the 
air that prevents Santa Barbara and San Diego— otherwise so salubrious — from affording any per- 
manent benefit to consumptives. 

Constant perturbation of the air is another climatic factor of infinite importance to persons 
laboring under lung diseases. Stagnation generates impurity, and consequent loss of oxygen. 
Such air becomes vmfit to enter the invalid's lungs, depressing the spirits, and Inducing general 
torpidity and prostration. Frequent changes in the direction of the air currents are also essential 
in those diseases, as it is invariably found that trade winds in the temperate zone become loaded 
\\ith moisture, and are otherwise unhealthy. Madeira furnishes an admirable illustration of this 
position, as, notwithstanding its having as equable temperature as any other, its freedom from 
malaria, its sheltered position, and delightful weather, it is a charnel house for consumptives, 
owing unquestionably to the atmosphere being too stagnant and the wiuds too unchangeable. 

While constant motion of the air is requisite, it is of equal importance that the currents should 
-not be too violent. Living as much as possible in the open air is essential to the consumptive. If 
the air is moving at a velocity of under ten miles an hour, the invalid can be out and receive en- 
joyment and vigor; but if this velocity is doubled, the natural heat of the body is rapidly ab- 
stracted, and depression and debility are produced. This is one cause of the unfavorableness of 
■ Colorado for this class of patients. 

All air possesses more or less moisture. A certain degree of it is essential to comfort and to 
health. What the consumptive invalid demands is an air in which the amount of moisture is 
nearly as possible uniform. Every one has felt in the Western States the pungent, i^enetrating 
south wind, loaded, as it always is, wdth moisture in winter, although the accompanying tempera- 
ture is comparatively high, and the delicious feeling generated when the wind changes to the 
•north, with a much lower thermometer, but a perfectly dry atmosphere. It is this consideration 
which prevents those laboring under lung diseases from deriving any positive advantage from a 
Tesldence on the shores of the Mediterranean, the degree of moisture In the air constantly chang- 
ing -with the direction of the wind. 

Another climatic condition required in lung and throat diseases is that the mean annual rain- 
fall should be small, but it should fall if possible during the six growing months. I 

An absorptive soil, and a subsoil possessed of sufficient capillary attraction to absorb rapidly 
any redundant moisture, and prevent its evaporation, is equally essential. 

A country in which the natural drainage is as perfect as possible, and in which there are no 
sluggish flowing rivers or streams, no extensive marshes or stagnant pools, and in which the water 
is pure and the soil productive, is what those laboring under throat and lung diseases demand. 

General purity of the air is a climatic necessity for the consumptive, and it is only to be found 
in northern latitudes, where we have coolness, another conspicuously requisite agent. 

These climatic conditions comprise everything, almost, which locality can accomplish for the 
phthisical Invalid. Where are they to be found? Space ^\ill not permit so full a discussion of the 
different health resorts for this class, which have been recommended, as I could wish. I am not 
aware of a single locality in Europe which physicians have any confidence in as possessing any 
curative effects in consumption. Change of climate and of scene has always a healthful influence 
on every invalid; and this, it is generally supposed, is the chief effect which is experienced by 
those visiting there. 

The West Indies, including Cuba, have long since been abandoned by every one not absolutely 
insane. The climate of Florida is, generally, too stagnant, too moist, and too malarious to benefit 
lung diseases. To persons with sound lungs, but with constitutions too feeble to bear the rigors 
of a western winter, this State affords a suitable winter residence. 

Aiken, South Carolina, and San Antonio, Texas, afford admirable winter residences for those 
•who have weak lungs, and are liable, in consetiuence, to frequent winter colds ; but we have no 
satisfactory evidence that really tuberculous diseases are benefitted by either of those climates. 

The climate of New Mexico is scarcely sufficiently kno'wn to admit of legitimate criticism; and 
if it were ever so favorable, the country at present would scarcely aft'ord the requisite conveniences 
for an invalid. 

California has more remarkable climatic resources than any other country in the world, and for 
all diseases, except those of the lungs, presents unrivalled facilities for cure; but for this class of 
affections the air is too stagnant generally throughout the State. In the ■vicinity of San Francisco 



^4 Minnesota as a Health. Resort. 

Bay, it is too pungent and damp; on the southern coast, too moist and relaxing; at the foot-hills,. 
too hot and dry; in the Sierras, too windy and changeable. 

Whatever other advantages Colorado may present for tuberculous diseases, and I am not aware 
of any of an important character, its altitude will always prevent its being a sanitarium for those 
diseases. The expansion of the walls of the chest at that height is so considerable, requiring pro- 
portionate expansion of the lung tissue, that almost inevitable hemorrhage must ensue If the- 
tubercular disease has commenced. I am not informed nor is it important to inquire, whether- 
tubercle occurs among the residents there or not. 

Minnesota is the only place that I am aware of in which the various climatic resources that I. 
have mentioned as being favorable for the cure of consumption can be found. 

Its ijosition is so high that malarial diseases never originate there ; its system of natural drain- 
age is the most perfect in the world ; the topography and character of the soil indicate sanitary con- 
ditions of a high character ; the rainiall is less than in any other State in the Union, and occurs al- 
most entirely during the growing months ; the air is dryer than in any other section, and the tri- 
fling moisture it contains more uniformly distributed. 

The perturbation of the air is more constant, the changes in the direction of the winds more- 
frequent, and the air currents slower, than in any other part of the world. 

In addition, it is said, consumption never originates there, and the health statistics show a 
smaller mortality than any other State, Oregon, I believe, excepted. 

The trifling amount of rain, and the dry atmosphere, enable invalids to pass the entire day 
in the open air, while, as I can testify to from actual exuerience, the crisp, elastic atmosphere 
enables exercise to be indulged in with nothing but pleasurable feelings resulting, which in 
Illinois would produce almost insufferable weariness and exhaustion. 

But it, perhaps, is chiefly to the cool, invigorating air, free from impurities, and rich in ozone 
and oxygen, acting as a tonic on the system, fnvigorating the circulation, strengthening the 
nerves, stimulating digestion, and promoting the nutritive functions, that Minnesota is fast becom- 
ing a consumptive sanitarium. 

But, besides these climatic considerations, there are others — of subsidiary importance, it is true- 
— but still of importance to the invalid, as amusing his mind, recreating his feelings, -withdrawing 
his attention from his ailments, and dissipating the ennui which continued ill health invariably 
generates. Every physician is aware of the powerful influence which the physical surroundings, 
exercise on the mind of the sick. Probably Minnesota possesses more of those physical requisites 
than any other country in the world. The entire surface of the State presents everywhere a charm- 
ing variety. Noble rivers, grand old forests and peerless lakes, the latter in endless variety and 
beauty, meet the eye and gratify the sense wherever we go. 

The Falls of St. Anthony, the Dalles of the St. Croix, the weird loneliness of the St. Louis, the 
Falls of Minnehaha, the junction of the Missis.sippi and the Minnesota at Fort Snelling— remind- 
ing us of the meeting of the Rhone and the Scone — afford some of the finest scenery on the con- 
tinent. 

There is no siiblimity in Minnesota ; none of the savage grandeur of the Eocky Mountain can- 
ons or the Alpine Jungfrau, or Matterhorn, but there is a quiet beauty, a fascinating aggregation of 
those delicious details which go to make up a landscape especially charming from the absence of 
anything exciting or stimulating in its characteristics ; a delicious commingling, of wood, water and 
prairie, such as it is elsewhere difficult to find, and the soothing influence of wlilch on the invalid 
mind is infinitely preferable to the stimulus of grandeurand sublimity. 

This testimony of Dr. Murphy is that of one who has made the treatment 
of pulmonary diseases a life-long study, and gained for himself a favorable 
position among the eminent practitioners of Illinois. 

To pursue the subject further, we quote from a well-written work by Dr. 
J. Mattocks Brewer, of St. Paul, who has treated the subject at length and in a 
masterly manner. As our space is limited, we are compelled to omit many 
parts that are interesting to the invalid; but it will be seen from our extracts 
that he coincides with Dr. Murphy in many particulars: 

There is no disease which calls more loudly for room than consumption ; the tendency of the- 
disease is suffocation, constriction, want of air, and the indication is to supply it, as much for the^ 
moral effect as the i^hysical. Air, boundless and pure, is the "eau de vie" of the con.sumptive. The- 
progress of the disease is characterized by an ever-increasing desire for more air, jjurer air, better- 
air; it is a necessity, it is his life. Pure air is stimulating, it excites, it is tonic. 

As we write, we feel a certain enthusiasm in dwelling on a health resort, boimded only by latl- 



Minnesota as a Healtb. Resort. 



15 



tnde and longitude, called by a soul-inspiriting name, "the great Northwest." We wxite of the 
northwest quarter of the continent of North America, yet we limit the title of our work to Minne- 
sota, as Minnesota is at present the only Northwestern State. 

Minnesota lies between the forty-third and forty-ninth parallels of latitude, and between the 
eighty-ninth and ninety-seventh degrees of west longitude. It contains aljout eighty-four thou- 
sand square miles of territory, an area equal to all the New England States. A peculiar, and we 
may say novel position does our State occupy. 

Within the limits of Minnesota is what is known as the "height of land of the continent," an 
immense triangular elevation, almost in the geographical center of the continent, from wliose sides 
flow the three great watercourses of America. To the east the great St. Lawrence, to the north the 
Red River, and to the south the Mississippi. At this point we reach an elevation of seventeen hun- 
dred feet above the Gulf; this rise is almost imperceptible from the Gulf; it is not a mountain, it is- 
simply a height of land, as its name signifies. In addition to the.se large rivers, some twenty or 
thirty smaller rivers traverse the State in different directions. The State is well drained— admir- 
ably drained as a whole. At tliis latitude, however, standing water is comparatively harmless, so 
far as miasm is concerned. It is generally conceded that above forty-five degrees the seasons are 
not favorable for the generation of fevers. During the long winters the morasses freeze to the bot- 
tom, and it is late in the spring or summer before they become heated sufficiently to generate miasm. 

The system of rivers we have mentioned is not the only means of drainage in the State. Num- 
erous lakes dot the State in all directions, measuring from half a mile to ten miles in diameter. We 
made an effort to count them on the map, but we found it impossible— they number thousands. 
The surface of the State being rolling prairie, these lakes act as reservoirs for the water ; yet the 
great majority of them contain live xoater and are well stocked with fish. St. Paul is supplied 
with water from one of the.se lakes. 

In addition to the lakes and watercourses of the State, the soil absoros moisture very readily. 
In most parts of the State the soil is a sandy loam, with gravelly subsoil. There is comparatively 
but little clay in the State— by this we mean clayey land, not an entire absence of clay. 

Again, the inhabited parts of the State are not very heavily timbered ; forests exist in groves 
and belts, rather than in large tracts, thus exposing the ground to the direct rays of the sun, which 
facilitates evaporation. There are no mountains in the State, to contract and condense moisture 
from the clouds and prevent evaporation by acting as a Ijarrier to the free course of the dry western 
winds. A damp, cold soil is fully as detrimental to health as a damp, cold climate. 

Minnesota, then, possesses peculiar advantages, which render the soil very dry : First, the lay 
Of the land is rolling; second, it is intersected in all directions by rivers; third, the gravelly soil 
easily absorbs moisture by reason of its composition ; fourth, there is but little timber and no 
mountains to prevent speedy evaporation of moisture ; and, what is more potent than all, a dry 
wind passes over our State almost unobstructed at all times. 

Latterly, medical men are speaking highly of elevated regions for consumptives ; they would 
send their patients to mountain table-lands. While undoubtedly there are advantages connected 
with these elevated regions, yet the disadvantages fully offset them. In Minnesota one can enjoy 
the benefit of mountain air with none of its disadvantages. 

We quote Wheelock's Minnesota : "Without high mountains, we have, nevertheless, in the high- 
lands of the northeast, which do not rise more than five hundred feet above the level of the State, 
all the phenomena of a series of lofty elevations ; and this region deserves to be designated as the 
mountain district of Minnesota, if not from its actual height, at least from its rapid culmination of 
low temperature and the development of mountain flora toward the north. 

Now, to sum up the characteristics of our climate : First, the climate of Minnesota is dry— it is 
dry of necessity; we are so far from large bodies of water that we are but slightly subjected to 
their influences. For the past thirty years our annual rain-fall hrs been but twenty-five inches, in- 
cluding snow; we have also but little foggy or misty weather. On the Atlantic coast the rain-fall, 
as large as it is, is of little moment compared -with the fogs and heavy dews. This is best illus- 
trated in Great Britain; the yearly rain-fall in England is the same as in Minnesota, but the island 
is almost constantly enveloped in mist and fog. We subjoin the rain-fall of parallel forty-five ancS 
the Gulf States during the four seasons of the year : 



Spring . . , 
Summer 
Winter . . 
Autumn. 

Total 



ATLANTIC 
COAST. 



12 inches. 
3 " 
10 " 
20 " 



PACIFIC 
COAST. 



8 inches. 
10 " 
10 " 
10 " 



GITLF 
STATES. 



12 inches. 
20 " 
9 " 
14 " 

55 



jriNNESOTA 



6 inches. 
12 " 
6 " 
2 " 



16 



Minnesota as a Healtb. Resort. 



If we were called upon to classify our climate, as a whole, we should call it strictly a tonic cli- 
mate — tonic in the broad, full sense of the term ; tonic as all northern latitudes are tonic ; tonic as 
Scotland is tonic, which is called "one of the healthiest climates in the world." The tonicity of her 
climate is stamped with a physical impress which shows itself upon all of her people; it is a ton- 
icity which has made the Scotch race big and brawny, broad-shouldered and big-boned; it is a 
healthfulness which has made them long-lived. The average duration of Scotchmen's life is longer 
than that of other European nationalities. Their climate has given tone to their morals, health to 
their religion; theirs was a religion that was nurtured and reared in the open air; it was a religion 
that took a strong hold upon healthy hearts — not hearts enlarged M'itli enthusiasm or pulsating 
with excitement — but hearts which beat with the healthy rhythm of a settled purpose ; theirs is a 
pulse which beats slow, but full. Yet Scotland is not a medicinal climate ; it is a healthy, tome 
climate. 

The climate of New England is a tonic climate, and partakes largely of the characteristics of 
Scotland. The New Englanders are, as a general thing, a large-boned race; they have fine phy- 
siques, and are a healthy people; their climate is, strictly speaking, in the full sense of the word, a 
tonic climate. But yet Scotland and New England are tonic for a certain class of diseases. While 
the climate posses.ses many advantages, still, like all climates, it also has marked disadvantages, 
and disadvantages insurmountable for the very disease under consideration — consumption. 

Now, we ask, is there any reason why Minnesota should not be a healthy State ? Too far north 
lor miasmatic influences ; too tar from the coasts for the deleterious effect of excessive moisture; 
too far from the alkaline waters of the west not to enjoy the blessings of pure water ; the configura- 
tion of the land such as to admit of perfect drainage ; the soil such as rapidly to absorb moisture ; 
the occupation and habits of our population such as to insure health — why should our State not be 
iealthy and the mortality low ? 

We clip from Colonel Hewitt's valuable little work on Minnesota, the following table of the re- 
lative mortality of the different States, which he compiled from the census returns of 1870. It 
should be borne in mind that these figures, so far as Minnesota is concerned, include non-resident 
deaths. By non-resident we would be understood to mean those who seek our State for their health : 



State. 



Alabama 

Arkansas 

California 

Connecticut. . . 

Delaware 

Florida 

Georgia 

Illinois 

Iowa 

Indiana 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 



Popula- 
tion. 



964,201 
435,450 
379,l)'.t4 
400,147 
112,216 
144,425 

1,057,286 

1,711,951 
674,913 

1,350,438 
107,306 

1,155,684 
708,002 
628,379 
687,049 

1,231,063 
749,113 
172,123 
791,305 



Deaths 


Per- 
cent. 


Ifor 
every 


12,760 


1.32 


75 


8,860 


2.03 


49 


3,705 


.97 


102 


6,138 


1.33 


74 


1,346 


1.11 


90 


1,769 


1.25 


79 


12,807 


1.21 


82 


19,263 


1.12 


88 


7,260 


1.07 


93 


15,205 


1.12 


88 


1,443 


1.34 


74 


16,467 


1.44 


70 


12,329 


1.74 


57 


7,614 


1.21 


82 


7,370 


1.07 


93 


21,304 


1.73 


57 


7,399 


.98 


101 


1,109 


.64 


155 


12,214 


1.54 


64 



State. 



Missouri 

New Hampshire 

New Jersey 

New York 

North Carolina 

Ohio 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode Island 

South Carolina 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Vermont 

Virginia 

Wisconsin 

District of Columbia 

Nebraska 

New Mexico 

Utah 



Popula- 
tion. 


Deaths 


Per- 
cent. 


1,182,012 


17,557 


1.48 


326,073 


4,469 


1.37 


672,035 


7,525 


1.11 


3,880.735 


46,881 


1.20 


992,622 


12,607 


1.27 


2,339,511 


24,724 


1.05 


52,465 


251 


.47 


2,906,115 


30,214 


1.03 


174,620 


2,479 


1.41 


703,708 


9,745 


1.38 


1,109,801 


15,176 


1.36 


604,215 


9,369 


1.55 


315,098 


3,355 


1.06 


1,596,318 


22,474 


1.40 


775,831 


7,129 


.92 


75,080 


1,275 


1.69 


28,841 


381 


1.32 


93,516 


1,305 


1.39 


40,273 


374 


.92 



Ifor 

every 

67 

72 

89 

82 

78 

94 
209 

96 

70 

72 

73 

64 

93 

71 
108 

58 

75 

71 
107 



We wish here to mention one great mistake that invalids make in visiting 
our State, and that is in the briefness of their stay. They frequently come too 
late in the spring, and go away too early in the fall. June is almost invariably 
a warm, pleasant month, and October, while it may seem very cool to those 
accustomed to a warmer climate, is one of the best months of the year, and if 
the patient exercises reasonable care in keeping warmly clothed, he will find 
the bracing air beneficial. The winter months are also favoral)le to consump- 
tives, as is well illustrated by the hosts of people who have made Minnesota 
their permanent home, simply because its climate has given them the relief 
they sought. The terrors of a Minnesota winter are easily endured after one 
has been here long enough to discover that the climate of other States is more 



Minnesota as a Health. Resort. 17 

uncomfortable at ten degrees below zero, than this is at a mucn lower tem- 
perature. It is a pure, dry air, free from that dampness which no amount of 
clothing can protect one from. On this subject we quote from a pamphlet 
compiled by Talbot Jones, M. D., of St. Paul, from the evidence of various 
medical men throughout the State, who have given the matter their attention, 
and from his personal observation : 

When we come to examine into the comparative merits of climate with reference to the influ- 
ence it exerts for trood, or as a curative agent, we are at the outset almost bewildered at the diver- 
sity of opinion which is entertained as to just what constitutes a good climate. 

The great importance of climatic treatment in appropriate cases of consumption nas Deen 
recoRnized and insisted upon since medicine had its birth as a science. Hijipocrates had very clear 
ideas as to the ethcacy of climate in the disorder. Areta;us recommended loni; sea voyages, just as 
Bennett does to-day: while Celsus spoke of the benefit to be derived from camping in the pine 
forests, as does Professor Loomis now. However widely the profession may differ concerning the 
etiology and morbid anatomy of consumption, there is a singular unanimity of opinion among 
authorities that, in order to arrest the progress of the disease already commenced, or diminish to a 
minimum the probability of its development in those threatened, most reliance must be placed in 
climatic treatment. The acrimonious contests which have been waged among pathologists for 
more than half a hundred years, vnth regard to the pathological changes which take place in the 
lungs of phthisical subjects, have not correspondingly obscured the advantages likely to result to 
the invalid by a change of situation; but, having concentrated attention upon the whole subject, it 
has rather been the means of uniting all schools in a common belief that in climate alone can re- 
liance be placed as a curative agent. "Of all the means hitherto recommended for the cure of 
phthisis, none have been followed more frequently by complete cessation of the disease than change 
of situation.' [Laennec on the Chest.] "The most important means in the treatment of phthisis, 
indeed the sovereign remedy, as compared with all others, is climate. If it is taken advantage of 
early enough, and not, as unhappily is too often the case, when it is already too late, we may expect 
the best results from it. I have often observed, and every physician as well as myself must have 
observed, the most cures of chronic phthisis from climatic influences ; it is true many are but tem- 
porarily benefited, but sometimes there are perfect cures." fWaldenburg.] These two quotations 
from eminent authorities, representing different schools of thought, will suffice to show the high 
estimation which is islaced upon climate as a therapeutic agent. 

, When we begin to inquire into the character and comparative merits of climate, we are at once 
struck with the fallacy of the doctrine, which has obtained for generations, that the disease is more 
frequent in cold than in warm latitudes. Just the reverse of this is true. From an extensive series 
of data, it has lately been shown that the further we progress north the greater immunity the In- 
habitants enjoy from consumption. It is well known that "far up in the north, where the Ice King 
is," consumption is either extremely rare or altogether unknown. In the bleakest, coldest, and 
most exposed portions of the globe, where winter exists well-nigh continuously, and where sudden 
and severe changes of the atmosphere hold to a maximum, consumption is very infrequent. In- 
deed, so true is this that we are forced to the conclusion that extreme cold is inimical to the produc- 
tion of consumption. 

Professor Flint (juotes Dr. Hjaltelin, who resides in Iceland, as declaring that phthisis is un- 
known on that island. Finmaik, northern Greenland, north Sweden and Norway are likewise 
almost exempt from a disease which carries off one-tenth of the population of the tropics. The 
mortuary reports of St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia, show a mortality from phthisis much less 
than that of either Constantinople or Rome, both of which places are favorite sanitaria for pulmon- 
ary invalids. Stockholm, in a cold climate, although never spoken of as a health resort, shows an 
annual death-rate from consumption only half as great as that of either Venice, Florence, or Pisa, 
which are in a warm climate, and which have been heretofore greatly lauded as health resorts. 
Thorowgood, in his work on the "Climatic Treatment of Consumption," says that the mortality from 
consumption in London is 277 in 100,000; while in Norway it is but 100 in 100,000. Northern Sdotland 
shows fewer deaths from this disease than .southern England, and London mortuary reports com- 
pare very unfavorably with those of Edinburgh. 

"The inhabitants of cold climates are not particularly liable to be affected by the external forms' 
of tuberculous disease." [Mr. Phillips on Scrofula.] Colonel Tulloch, in his report to the British 
war offices, shows that the .soldiers sent to cold and dry countries are less frequently affected by 
scrofula than those stationed in hot countries. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, where the 
winter temperature is very low, the disease is less frequent than in Jamaica and at Sierra Leone.' 
[See Fisk Fund Prize Essay.] The mortality of Montreal, Canada, to-day is less than that of 



18 Minnesota as a Healtb. Resort. 

Havana; and that of St. Paul les.s than that of Jacksonville, Florida. Quebec Is much less scourged 
by dLsease than Is New Orleans, Mobile, or Galveston. Dr. Forry, who has written exliaustlvely on 
the subject of consumption as It affects the American army. Is authority for the statement that the 
proportion of soldiers annually attacked by consumption amounts to 10;3 per l,ooo in the entire 
country, while in the northern regions, where the climate is most severe, the proportion of phthisi- 
cal patients is not more.than 5 per 1,000. 

"Fifteen years ago the belief prevailed tnat the essential climatic element for the arrest and cure 
of phthisis was a warm, dry atmosphere. More recent observations and investigations have settled 
the fact that phthisis is not necessarily hastened in its development by a low (cold) temperature, 
and is not prevented or cured by a higher temperature." [lioomis before the American Medical 
Association, 1878.] While, therefore, the immunity which cold countries enjoy from phthisis is 
clearly indicated, attested alike by a large series of data and a vast clinical experience, observation 
eciually exact, and from authority fully as high, tends to establish the truth that the favorite hab- 
itat of consumi^tion is included within the isothermal lines of 30° and 40° mean annual temperature. 
"VVhUe no zone is absolutely free from the disease it is the temperate and torrid ones where the 
death rate holds to a maximum. 

When we consider the high rate of mortality in humid southern climates, not only co patients 
sojourning there in quest of health, but to the natives who have always resided there ; and, on the 
other hand, when we know the favorable results which, as a rule, attend the sending of patients to 
cold latitudes, as well as the low rate of mortality to the natives from consumption in these loca- 
tions, the question is a difficult one to answer. Although practically not so important, the question 
•why warm climates should exhibit such a large death rate from phthisis, is still an interesting one. 
Take for example Cuba, or, indeed, any of the West India Islands or Florida. The latter is perhaps 
to-day more frequented by pulmonary Invalids than any of our southern places of resort. The ex- 
ceeding fatality of consumption to families who for generations have resided in that State, as well 
as the unfavorable effects, as a rule, observed upon patients who visit that State in declining health, 
Is well known. We are not surprised that such is the case after having carefully analyzed the 
climate, for really there is little that can be said in its favor, and a gi-eat deal which must be said 
against it. "Two causes predominate over all others — deficiency of muscular exercise and humidity 
give rise to most chronic disorders. These causes act principally upon the skin; they tend inces- 
santly to repel within the torrent of the circulation superfluous or excrementltious elements which 
should be eliminated from the economy; they produce alterations of the blood and cachectic states 
of the system, of which the origin is unknown." [Edwards]. The effects of a hot and humid atmos- 
phere upon the .skin is either to entirely suppress cutaneous transpiration, or to reduce it to a min- 
imum. We have the highest authority for the statement that the suppression of this Insensible 
persijiration, from whatever cause, is not only Immediately harmful and dangerous, but is very 
likely to even rise to the tuberculous cachexy. The importance of the skin as a supplementary or- 
gan to the lungs, in ridding the economy of effete matters, is universally acknowledged. "In hot 
and damp weather the cutaneovis perspiration is performed with difficulty, a feeling of languor and 
depression, which makes the heat appear stifling and renders all exertion insupportable." [Folssac, 
"De laMeteorologie."] This indisposition to exertion, either physical or mental, due in part to hu- 
midity, suppression of the Insensible perspiration, and to heat, is a serious drawback to a patient's 
Improvement. A certain amount of exercise in the open air is the sine qua non to the success- 
ful treatment of a patient with phthisis. Florida would be unfit for a patient to visit, for this reason 
if for no other. Here everything invites to repose, an irresistible feeling of languor seizes a person, 
one's energies are paralyzed, and exercise consequently neglected. "There is a sensation of fullness 
in the head, and it has the effect of diminishing the nervous energies, and of inducing nervous con- 
gestion of the internal organs." As a natural result of this lack of muscular exertion and neglect of 
exercise, there follows great relaxation of both the nervous and muscular systems— effects so disas- 
trous that even the warmth of climate and change of scene, with the fresh hope these inspire, can 
not counterpoise them. The ideal climate is still undiscovered ; and, while we must admit this, it 
does not lessen the value of certain features of climate, which have been discovered and shown to 
possess decided advantages in che treatment of consumption. Out of a vast accumulation of facta 
with regard to climate, from exhaustive analysis of the influence on phthisis of humidity, altitude, 
temperature, soil, ozone, direction and velocity of the wind, elevation above the sea, voyages upon 
the sea, atmosphere pressure, etc., there are some facts upon which the profession are agreed. Care- 
ful investigation of this matter made by competent and trustworthy men, both in this country and 
in Europe, clearly indicates the importance of altitude In the climatic treatment of consumption. 
When the favorable influence which altitude exerted upon consumption became aijparent to the 
profession, for a time sea voyages were nearly abandoned, and hitherto favorite resorts near the 
sea coast deserted. The tide turned toward the mountains. Invalids who had heretofore relied on 
favorable effects of long sea voyages, now placed all their hopes in resorts from 2,500 to 8,000 feet 



Minnesota as a Health Resort. 19 

•feet above the sea— the isreatcr altitude (they supposed) the better. A more lamentable mistake 
Kjould scarcely have been made. In avoiding Scylla they ran into Charyl)dis. The result of breath- 
ing this rarefied air, to persons unaccustomed to it, produces very distressintr cllccts. In many it 
gives rise to haemorrhage from the lunss. It throws sudden increased labor upon tlie lungs and 
heart. Distressing effects are manifested in divers ways, and these extreme altitudes, after a fair 
trial, had to be abandoned for situations less elevated. Late investigations seem to indicate that 
the comparative infrequency of phthisis among inhabitants residing in elevated regions is due, not 
so much to mere altitude, as to the absence of organic matter in the atmosphere of these high ele- 
vations. 

"It is now established beyond doubt that organic substances, whether gaseous products of pu- 
trefactive processes, or microscopic germs floating in the atmosphere, when they reach the bron- 
chial tubes in the inspired air, are capable of exerting morbid processes which lead to serious results. 
It has been demonstrated that these organic substances are more numerous in the lower than in the 
higher strata of the atmosphere, and that they continue to diminish the higher we ascend, until a 
■certain height is reached in the mountain ascent, and they entirely disappear." TLoomisJ. These 
deleterious organic substances, which are continually inhaled in the lower strata of the atmosijhere, 
.are one of the strongest arguments against sending patients to Florida, the West Indies, New Or- 
leans, and cities on our Atlantic and Gulf coasts. In these situations, the altitude being small ( the 
mean of Florida being but .57 feet above the sea, and that of New Orleans even less ), the effect upou 
the organism must be most pernicious. The favorable effects of the inhalation of ozone, to con- 
sumptives, is well known, and the absence of this form of active oxygen in situations with but 
slight elevation above the sea should discourage phy.sicians from sending their patients to such re- 
sorts. There is much more ozone in the higher than in the lower strata of the atmosphere. That 
•ozone is exceedingly valuable in the climatic treatment of phthisis is clearly indicated. The man- 
aer in which it operates on the organism is best explained by Dr. Schreider in his work on Clima- 
tology. Ozone possesses high oxidizing power and purifies the atmosphere by chemically uniting 
with the products of decomposition. It destroys organisms by combining with them. " It also 
promotes nutrition and blood changes by supplying to the respiratory organs a most active form of 
oxygen. Therefore, when choosing a health resort for phthisical invalids, we would give the pref- 
erence to a locality in which there is constantly an excess of ozone in the air, for experience lias es- 
tablished the fact that there the climate is especially salubrious." 

It is my belief that a serious misapprehension obtains among authorities vrtth regard to the sup- 
posed injury which results to phthisical patients from variations of the atmosphere. It is a popular 
lielief that, the nearer we approach to absolute uniformity of temperature, the nearer we approach 
to the ideal climate. To my mind a more fallacious idea never gained popular credence; a more 
pernicious one the professional man has rarely been called upon to correct. If this can be substan- 
tiated, cold climates should by all means be avoided: and the physican who has heretofore advised 
patients to seek a cold, bracing, tonic atmosphere, where changes in the atmosphere the world over 
holds to a maximum, has either displayed ignorance of just what constitutes an atmosphere favor- 
able to the successful treatment of consumption, or else has been trifling with human life. 

If variation in the temperature of the atmosphere is so terrible in its effects as many would 
have us believe, the question at once arises, why is i)ulmonary consumption not more common in 
<;old latitudes where, as it has been shown, variability is the rule, and uniformity the exception ? 

After a careful study of the foregoing facts, and by way of summing up, we believe that we are 
justified in drawing the following deductions : 

1. No zone enjoys entire immunity from pulmonary consumption. 

2. The popular belief that phthisis is common in cold climates is fallacious. 

3. The idea, now so prevalent, that phthisis is rare in warm cliinates is as untrue as it is 
<langerous. 

i. The disease causes a larger proportion of deaths on the seashore— the mortality diminishing 
"with elevation up to a certain point. 

.'). Altitude is inimical to the development of consumption, owing, chiefly, to the greater purity 
«f the atmosphere in elevated situations, its freedom from organic matter, and its richness in ozone. 

6. Moisture arising from a clay soil or due to evaporation is one of the most influential factors 
in its production. 

7. Dampness of the atmosl^here, from whatever cause and in any altitude, predisposes to the 
•development of the disease, and is hurtful to those already attacked. 

8. Dryness is a quality of the atmosphere of decided value. 

9. The most unfavorable climate possible for consumptives is one of uniform high temperature 
and a high dew point (warm and moist). 

10. That the effects due to change in the atmosphere are by no means so pernicious as are gen- 
erally supposed, and that upon this subject present views require modification. 




DEvx.'s TK J'lJv:;;:;^:.: o.... m.km., u... surEKio.. 



Minnesota as a Health. Resort. 21 

A few words with reg9.r(i to the geography of Minnesota— its altitude, geology, the character 
and configuration of its soil, and other physical aspects : The surface of Minnesota is generally un- 
dulating. It consists chiefly of rolling plains or prairie, which have an elevation varying from 1,200 
to l,!)uo feet above the sea. 

Little need be said with regard to the soil of the State. Professor N. H. Winchell, of the Uni- 
versity of Minnesota, who has given the subject careful and intelligent study, says, by way of sum- 
mary: "Hence, we may denominate the soils of Minnesota, except in the southwestern part of the 
State, the limits of which have not yet been accurately ascertained, as drift soils. The terms 'lime- 
stone soil ' and 'sandstone soil' are almost inapplicable to our State " A large portion of the 

State has a soil which is a light, sandy loam. The highlands of Minnesota constitute the water- 
shed of this continent. There are three rivers in the State whose sources arc but a few miles apart, 
the waters of which, pursuing different directions, empty, one into the Arctic Ocean, one into the 
Atlantic, while a third mingles its waters with those of the Gulf of Mexico. In the "Medical Statis- 
tics of the Provost-General's Bureau, 187.")," published under authority of the War Department, the 
mean altidude of twenty-two of our Northern and Western States are given as follows: 

Feet. Feet. Feet. 

Minnesota, 1,100 Delaware, 100 Rhode Island, 125 

West Virginia, 1,0.50 New York, 800 Ohio, 700 

Iowa, 900 Missouri, 800 Pennsylvania, 700 

Wisconsin, 850 Michigan, 800 Indiana, C75 

Vermont, 600 Illinois, 025 New Hampshire, G25 

Maine, 375 Kentucky, COO Massachusetts, 400 

New Jersey, 20Q Maryland 375 Connecticut, 300 

District of Columbia, 125 

From this table it will be seen that, of all the States east of the Rocky Mountains, Minnesota 
has the greatest altitude. As might be expected, this varies in different portions of the State. The 
highest elevation is about 2,000 feet above the sea. Lake Itaska, which is the source of the Missis- 
sippi river, has an altitude of 1,530 feet. 

Theit. is no country of which I have any knowledge, situated in the same latitude as Minnesota, 
and whose mean altitude is upward of 1,100 feet, which is not subject to atmospheric variations ju.st 
as great as those observed in this State. Therefore, when it is proposed to try the effects upon a 
phthisical patient of a cold, bracing climate as a therapeutic measure, the fact must be kept con- 
stantly in view that such a climate, in whatever zone, is subject to sudden atmospheric changes. 
So true is this, that coldness and climatic variability are well nigh synonymous terms. My own 
observation has led me to the conclusion that individuals vnntering in Minnesota, if warmly clad in 
woolens, experience none of the pernicious effects from sudden changes in the atmosphere which 
not a few describe, but none here have observed. A careful inquiry among physicians residing in 
different portions of the State, has elicited nothing but what is confirmatory of such a statement. 
Sudden variations in the atmosphere, exposure, etc., are supposed in the great majority of cases to 
stand in a causative relation to pneumonia. Accepting this as partly true, it would seem that this 
disease would be an exceedingly common one in Minnesota, where atmospheric changes are not 
only great but sudden. Investigations {vide "Vital Statistics," U. S., 1860) indicate that the mortal- 
ity from pneumonia is tvnce as great in the New England and the Middle States, and much greater 
also in the Southern States than it is in Minnesota. Copying from the "Vital Statistics" of Minne- 
sota, the deaths from consumption were as follows through four years : 

Total deaths from consumption during the winter months for four years, 455. 

Total deaths from consumption during the summer months for four years, 512. 

Whenever the claims of Slinnesota as a desirable resort for consumptives is urged, we are almost 
invariably met with the same reply, viz: that the rigors of the winter are entirely too severe on 
patients; and, atmospheric variations being great and sudden, the effects must be hurtful. 

I have elsewhere attempted to show that neither of these objections can be substantiated, either 
by an appeal to the mortuary reports of this State, or to the experience and observation of the phy- 
sicians practicing here. 

Consumption may almost be termed an "indoor" disease, and lack of exercise in the open air as 
a development cause is scarcely less important than heredity itself. It is my sincere belief that in- 
valids can be as much in the open air in this State during the 365 days of the year, as they can in 
any State in the Union. With warm wrai)pings they can be in the open air almost all the time, dur- 
ing our winter as well as our summer months. The whole number of days during our winters the 
extreme cold of which prevents invalids being out of doors, are fewer in number than are the rainy 
days during a corresponding period of time in Florida, which, of course, prevents invalids from 
being out. Let an unprejudiced person carefully study the meteorological reports as published by 
the War Department, with reference to the bearing upon this subject, and he will, I am satisfied, be 
convinced that more actual time can be spent in the open air in the State of Minnesota than in 
Florida. •*" 



22 Minnesota as a Healtb. Resort. 

To ascertain the opinion of the profession of this State concerning the effects of climate upon 
phthisis, the Minnesota State Board of Health recently sent out a circular and received the follow- 
ing replies : 

Question. I. Is tubercular consumption as liable to be developed here as in the eastern or 
southern portions of our country, in persons predisposed to the disease? Forty-one answers were 
received. Yes, 1 ; no, 37 ; undecided, 3. 

Q. II. Have you known any cases to originate in this State in persons not supposed to be pre- 
disposed to the disease? Forty-one answers were received. Yes, 17; no, 21 ; undecided, 3. 

Q. III. Does the climate of Minnesota favor the cure of phthisis pulmonalis (any form) origin- 
ating elsewhere? Forty-one answers. Yes, 39; no, 2. More than one-half sui^plemented the 
answer with "in the early stages of the disease." 

Q. IV. If so, to what characteristics of the climate is the favorable effect due, and in what 
manner is it produced? Thirty-nine answers. "To dry and stimulating character of the atmos- 
phere." "Tonic effects upon the whole system." "To elevation and a clear and dry atmosphere." 
"To dry atmosphere and ozone." "Stimulating effects of atmosphere in connection with outdoor 
exercise." "To light and its effects mostly." "Cold winters more favorable than mild." 

Q. V. In vvhat stage of the disease are consumptives most likely to be benefitted by residence 
here? Forty answers. In the incipient stage, 32. In all stages, but better in early stage, 8. 

Q. VI. Is a tendency to hsemorrhage in any stage of the disease an indication favorable or un- 
favorable to immigration to this State? Forty answers. Favorable, 18 ; unfavorable, ; undecided, 12. 

Q. VII. What months are mos't favorable to immigration here? Forty answers. Autumn, 8; 
Summer, 12 ; Spring, 5 ; late Spring or early Fall, 10 ; any month, 2 ; undecided, 3. 
:'..; Q. VIII. Do you know of persons now living in the State or elsewhere who came here while 
suffering from phthisis, either incipient or developed, and who were cured or benefited by residence 
here? Forty-one answers. Y'es, 21; many, 7; a few, 3; no, 1; cannot say, 6. 

The favorable view I entertain with regard to the climate of Minnesota, being the opinion of but 
a single individual, would be entitled to but little weight, if the deductions drawn cannot be estab- 
lished by an appeal to facts and corroborated in the experience and observation of the medical 
pi;3,ctitioners located in different portions of the State. Elsewhere attention has been directed lo 
the meteorological and mortuary reports of the State, and the bearing they have upon this subject. 
■\Vith regard to the replies to the circular sent out by the State Board of Health, I think they pos- 
sess great value. They clearly indicate the estimation which is placed upon the climate of this 
State by forty of the oldest and most larominent practitioners in it, who have through a series of 
years had ample opportunity to watch and study climatic effects upon phthisis as it has occurred in 
their own practice. Dr. D. W. Hand, president of the State Board of Health, wi-ites as follows upon 
this subject: 

"Persons with an hereditary tendency to consumption, or with the disease already beginning, 
will find this climate remarkably well adapted to their wants. Between the pleasant rolling prairie, 
the wooded lake region, and the dense pine forests of the northern section of the State, they can 
choose what seems most agreeable and best adapted to them, while the dry, bracing atmosphere 
will enable them to live much of the time out of doors without fear of 'taking cold.' This compara- 
tive exemption from taking 'colds' when exposed to the open air, day or night, is, in my opinion, 
one of the greatest charms of this climate." 

The late distinguished Congregational divine. Rev. Horace Bushnell, D. D., of Connecticut, who 
spent a summer in this State for the benefit of his health, wi-ote concerning this climate, as follows: 
"The winter climate is cold, and yet so dry and clear and still, for the most part, as to create no 
great suffering. One who is properly dressed finds the climate much more agreeable than the am- 
XihibioiTS, half-fluid, half-sloppy, grave-like chill of the East. Real snow storms are rare ; there 
were none last winter. A little more snow to make better sleighing would be an improvement. As 
to rain in winter, it is almost unknown. There was not a drop of it last winter, from the latter part 
of October to the middle of March, except a slight drizzle on Thanksgiving day. I had spent a y^ar 
in Cuba without benefit. I had spent also nearly a year in California, making a gain in the dry sea- 
son, and a partial loss in the wet season, returning, however, sufficiently improved to resume my 
labors. Breaking down again from this only partial recovery, I made the experiment now of Min- 
nesota ; and, submitting myself, on returning, to a very rigid examination by a physician who did 
not know at all what verdict had been passed by other physicians before, he said, m accordance 
with their opinions, 'you have had difficulty in your right lung, but it is now healed.' " 

It is almost universally remarked that, shortly after their arrival in Minnesota, invalids notice a 
marked improvement in their appetite and digestion. So true is this that there are medical writers 
who maintain that this improvement of digestion and assimilation is a more influential factor in tha 
successful treatment and cure of consumption, as it presents itself in this State, than all the other 
favorable conditions combined. It is not alone the nitrogenous foods which are so well digested, 



Minnesota as a Health. Resort. 23 

but the hydro-carbons as well. It is the latter variety which play such an important role in the 
constructive metamorphosis of tissue. 

"The deficient digestion of animal food in phthisis is a very serious thinff. It keeps the patient 
in such a weak state that fatal effects follow shocks that could otherwise be borne up asainst." "In 
tuberculous consumption the body wastes away, not becanse of the destruction of fat beinp; in- 
creased, but because of its renewal beins arrested." "The fireat object in the treatment of phthisis 
is to get the system in such a condition that it will assimilate fat." "To find the easiest assimilated 
oil and to prepare the digestion for the absorption of oil are the main i)roblems in the cure of con- 
sumption." Chambers on the Indigestion. 

There is, perhaps, no State in the Union in which the processes of digestion and assimilation are 
more actively ijerformed than in Minnesota. This was commented upon in tlie replies received in 
answer to the circular sent out by the State Board of Health. To my mind, one of the most serious 
objections against warm climates, as a re-^iort for consumptives, is the intense dislike which patients 
acquire for foods which are rich in hydro-carbons, but especially oils. So high an authority as 
Baron Liebig states that oily foods are disgustful to persons in hot climates. When, therefore, Dr. 
Chambers has shown how immensely important it is that consumptives sliould take oil and assimi- 
late it, taken in connection with the declaration of Liebig that such food is disgustful to persons in 
warm climates, the question at once arises : Is a medical adviser ever justified in sending invalids to 
warm resorts, where this pernicious influence will be most operative? 

It is during the first stage of consumiition (the curative stage) that invalids derive so much 
benefit from a visit to Minnesota. Nowhere in this paper have I desired to create the impression 
that, during the advanced stages of this malady, the climate of this State would be beneficial. I 
cannot insist too strongly upon the inutility of sending phthisical patients to this State who are in 
the advanced stages of the disease. It is my belief, that where the stage of ulceration and excava- 
tion has been reached — and this can only be determined by means of physical diagnosis — this cli- 
mate does positive harm. There are, however, numerous exceptions to this rule. 

Professor Loomis is of the o]nnion that camping in pine forests is one of our most valuable 
means in combating consumption. The turpentine exhaled from pine trees, as is well known, con- 
verts ordinary oxygen into ozone, and it has been shown that this is definitely valuable as a remedy 
in phthisis. The immense pine forests of Minnesota will afford the invalid ample opportunity to 
test the value of Professor Loomis's suggestion. 

— In closing this paper I cannot do better than give the conclusions at which Dr. Franklin Staples, 
of this State, arrived in his "Eeport on the influence of Climate on Pulmonary Diseases in Minne- 
sota," read before the American Medical Association in 187G. He says : "Among the conclusions to 
which we think our investigation has led are the following : First. Owing to the geographical posi- 
tion of Minnesota, the altitude and general physical condition of the surface of the country, the 
character of the soil, the temperature and comparative dryness of the atmosphere, the character of 
the sun's light here, the freedom from all forms of paludal poisons, and to other causes, the climate 
of the State is stimulating and favorable in its effects upon diseases of the lungs and air-pas.sages, 
which are dependent upon and characterized by debility, imperfect digestion and assimilation, and 
the tuberculous and strumous diathesis. Second. That the beneficial effects of the climate are due 
largely to influences exerted directly or indirectly upon the functions of nutrition. Tlrird. That 
acute lobar pneumonia is not to any great extent i^revalent here, but that the chronic forms of 
pneumonia inflammation are found to exist, and that the cases of phtliisis pulmonalis originating 
here have been generally of pneumonic origin ; but that this does not conflict with the fact that 
phthisis contracted elsewhere and under different climatic conditions may be benefitted and cured 
by influences found to exist here ; and that we find facts to verify this conclusion, especially in the 
large number of the present inhabitants of the State now in good health, who came from other local- 
ities as invalids suft'ering from evident phthisis pulmonalis, either caseous or tuberculous. Fourth. 
That, since the climate of the northwest, in common with that of all other regions and countries, 
has its imperfections, its disadvantages in some clas.ses of invalids suffering from pulmonary dis- 
ease, as well as its great advantages to others, an intelligent discrimination should be exercised on 
the part of the medical profes.sion of the country concerning the patients to be sent to Minnesota 
for relief; audit should be known that, for the consumptive, merely temporary residence here is 
not likely to result in permanent benefit." 



HOMES m THE lORTHWEST. 




MNNESOTA offers many inducements to immigrants seek- 
ing new homes, wliere they may be enabled to improve 
their condition in life. While thousands of acres are 
^.^udded annually to the productive lands of the State, there 
syet remain large tracts siibject to pre-emption, or location 
under the homestead or tree-cultui'e laws. New lines of 
railway are reaching out from the large citicH to gather in 
,s7p,C tlie products of the new farms, and new towns are spring- 
/■"^^^ ing up like magic. Capitalists find profitable investment 
in new mills, manufactories and stores, and mechanics find occupa- 
tion at their various trades, or opportunity to become independent 
by buying land and turning farmers. 

Along many of the lines of railway, land is stiU to be had at com- 
paratively low figures, ranging in price from $5 .00 per acre upward, 
according to location. The United States government has several 
millions of acres subject to entry or pre-emi3tion, which may be 
purchased at $1.25 per acre if outside of raih-oad land grant limits, 
or $2.50 if Avithin those limits. 

} The railway companies give great inducements to actual settlers, 
offering their lands at a low price, and giving the purchaser long 
time at a small interest. Of these are the St. Paul, Minneapolis and 
Manitoba, Northern Pacific, St. Paul and Sioux City, St. Paul and Duluth, Hastings 
and Dakota, St. Paul, Stillwater and Taylor's Falls, and the Chicago and Northwest- 
ern, all of which companies make special terms for land seekers by a reduction of 
rates of fare to view their lands. 

State lands are sold at auction to the highest bidder, $5.00 per acre being fixed 
by law as the minimum price which can be received, and the rate of interest at 7 per 
cent . to those who purchase on time. 

To give the reader what may be considered the most reliable information about 
Minnesota lands and how to obtain them, we quote from the official j)amphlet of the 
State Board of Immigration, and the recent report of the Commissioner of Statistics: 

UNOCCUPIED LANDS. 

Of the unoccupied lands in Minnesota, nearly 10,141,989 acres remained unsurveyed on the 1st of 
January, 1881. The title to these is still in the United States government, but on their survey about 
600,000 acres will enure to the State as school lands, and a considerable further quantity as swamp 
lands and grants for railroads. Of the surveyed lands that are yet unoccupied, some 3,130,000 acres 
still belong to the United States government, about 3,000,000 acres to the State, nearly 7,000,000 acres 
to railroad companies, and, perhaps, 500,000 acres to private individuals — making an aggregate of 
about 13,630,000 acres . 

GOVERNMENT LANDS. 

The lands belonging to the United States are divided among nine districts, with a local land 
office in each for their disposal, to-wit : 

1st District — Office at Worthington. 2d District— Office at New Ulm. 3d District— Office at Red- 

25 



26 Homes in ttie TSTortliwest. 

wood Falls. 4th District— Office at Benson. 5th District— Office at Fergus Falls. 6th District- 
Office at Crookston. 7th District — Office at Taylor's Falls. 8th District— Office at Duluth. 9th Dis- 
trict—Office at St. Cloud. 

HOW TO OBTAIN THEM. 

"Possession of government lands may be acquired by purchase at public or private sale, by pre- 
emption and subsequent pvirchase, or by continued occupation under the homestead and timber cul- 
ture laws. The price for agricultural lands is uniformly one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre 
■when beyond the limits of a railroad grant, or two and a half dollars per acre when within such lim- 
its. Mineral lands have their values fixed by appraisal. 

"When public sales of government lands are to be made, notice is given by advertisement, and 
the lands are offered at auction to the highest bidder. To purchase at private sale the buyer goes to 
the land office of the district, describes the tract, and pays the full amount of purchase money. 

"To pre-empt land that has been offered at jHiblic sale, any person, man or woman, over twenty- 
one years of age, who is, or has declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, 
must, within thirty days after his settlement upon the land, file a statement at the local land office 
of the district, declaring his intention to pre-empt such land (not more than 160 acres being allowed 
to one person), and pay a fee of two dollars. Within one year of his settlement upon the land, he 
must make proof of his actual settlement upon and cultivation of the tract and secure the same by 
making payment at the prices given aljove. In case the land has not been offered he has three 
months' time in which to file his declaratory statement, and thirty months before making final pay- 
ment. In case a ijre-emptor dies during the interval between settlement and payment, his heirs 
may consummate the purchase. 

"To obtain a homestead (the limit being now 160 acres, whether within or outside of a railroad 
grant), the applicant, either man or woman, must file his application describing the land at the local 
land office, together with an affidavit that he is, or has declared his intention to become a citizen, 
and that he desires the land for his own occupany and for that of his family. He must then pay a 
commission of fourteen dollars. Having resided upon and cultivated a reasonable portion of the 
land continuously for five years, he must then, or within two years thereafter, prove such occupa- 
tion to the district land officers and pay a further commission of four dollars, when he will obtain a 
complete title. In case of death, acquisition of title may be consummated by his heirs. 

; "Under the Timber Culture act, the party files an application for the land and an affidavit that it 
is for his own use, paying fourteen dollars. The first year he must plow one-thirty-second part, 
cultivate it the second year, and plant it in trees (not less than 2,700 to the acre) the third year. The 
second year he must plow another thirty-second part, cultivate it the third year, and plant it in 
trees the fourth year, 2,700 to the acre. Eight years after filing application, upon proving that there 
are at least 675 thrifty trees on each acre on a sixteenth part of the tract, he becomes entitled to the 
land on payment of a further sum of four dollars. In case of death, heirs can obtain the title. 

"State lands are scattered all over the surveyed portions of the State. Their lowest price is fixed 
by law at $5 per acre ; and they are also separately ai^praised. They are always sold at public sale 
to the highest bidder, fifteen per cent, of the purchase money being required in cash, and the re- 
mainder to draw seven per cent, per year interest until date fixed tor payment at time of sale." 

A soldier having served in the army or navy during the war of the rebellion for over ninety days 
can obtain 160 acres of any of the public lands by filing, himself or by an attorney, a declaratory 
statement, and wthin six months after making his homestead entry, commencing settlement and 
cultivation, and continuing the same for five years, less the time he served in the army or navy. 

Tlae extent of Minnesota may be gained from the following statement : It has an 
area of 83,530 square miles, or 53,459,200 acres. Of this 51,000,000 acres is land, and 
2,459,200 water. It is 375 miles in length, north and south, and its average width 250 
miles. 

This area is divided into arable lands, which require comparatively little work to 
subdue, embracing prairie and sparsely timbered land, 57,530 square miles, or 37,115,- 
840 acres: pine lands, 21,000 square miles, or 13,440,000 acres; the "Big Woods" of 
hard wood timber, 5,000 square miles, or 3,200,000 acres. 

• -I The water area embraces about 8,000 lakes, varying in size from forty acres to 
100,000 acres, and some two or three cover about 100,000 each ; there are 5,000 lakes 
which have an average of 300 acres each. 

From the recent report of Hon. F. S. Christensen, State Commissioner of Statis- 



Homes in ttie North.-west. 



27 



tics, we gather some facts that may be interesting to all who desire to locate in Min- 
nesota, and we give them space: 

ACRES. 

Lands surveyed in the State to January 1, 1881, 40,005,851 

Lands unsurveyed, estimated 10.141.089 

Total in private hands, 21,315,:U2 

Total United States and State hxnds sold in 1880, 1,649,702 

The total value of i^ersonal property in the State, assessed In 1880, amounted to $66,245,688; of 
real property, $202, .■552,349. 

POPULATION. 

The population of Minnesota, as slio'mi by the United States census of 1880, is 
780,807. Tlie folIoAving table gives the population by counties: 



Aitkin 

Anoka 

Becker 

Beltrami 

Benton 

Bis Stone. . . , 
Bine Earth., 

Brown 

Carlton 

Carver 

Cass 

Chippewa 

Chisago , 

Clav 

Cook 

Cottonwood , 
Crow Wing . , 

Dakota , 

Dodge 

Douglas 

Faribault 

Fillmore 

Freeborn 

Goodhue 

Grant 

Hennepin 

Houston 



370 

6,979 

5,402 

HI 

3,019 

3,739 

22,395 

10,856 

1,234 

14,149 

250 

5,302 

7,997 

5,900 

66 

5,1554 

2,3(t7 

17,414 

11,415 

9,159 

12,999 

28,220 

16,074 

29,505 

3,004 

66,590 

16,339 



Isanti 5,070 

Itasca 124 

Jackson 4,804 

Kanabec 505 

Kittson 914 

Kandiyohi 10,1,56 

Lac Qui Parle 4,905 

Lake 106 

Le Sueur 16,111 

Lincoln 2,946 

Lvon 6,234 

JIcLeod 11,295 

Marshall 995, 

Martin 5,253 1 

IMeoker 11,708 

Mille Lacs 1,503 

Morrison 5,877 

Mower 16,804 

Blurrav 3,739 

Nicollet 12,351 

Nobles 4,479 

Olmsted 21,553 

Otter Tail 18,963 

Pine 1,365 

Pipe Stone 2,315 

Polk 11,453 

Pope 5,876 



Ramsey 40,168 

Redwood 5,378 

Renville 10,596 

Rice 22,499 

Rock 3,685 

St. Louis 4,553 

Scott 13,478 

Sherburne 3,860 

Sibley 10,731 

Stearns 22,552 

Steele 12,463 

Stevens 3,801 

Swift 7,470 

Todd 6,1.56 

Traverse 1,504 

Wabasha 18,308 

Wadena 2,086 

Washington 19,553 

Waseca 12,485 

Wantonwau 5,058 

Wilkin 1,925 

Winona 27,268 

Wright 18,124 

Yellow Medicine 5,890 

Total 780,082 



The population of 

following table: 

Minneapolis 

St. Paul 

Winona 

Stillwater 



cities containing over 3,000 inhabitants, may be seen by the 

48,053 [Red Wing 5,811 1 Hastings 3,810 

41,639 Mankato 5,552 St. Peter 3,463 

10,205 1 Faribault 5,433 Owatonna 3,161 

9,059 i Rochester 5,103) 

KAILKOADS. 

There is now in operation within the State, 3,099,59 miles of railway, and about seventy-five 
miles more will be completed early this year. 

The total stock of railroad lines within the State is valued at $51,778,144; total debt, $48,391,388. 
Gross earnings for 1880, to June 30, $10,774,826; operating expenses, $6,604,400; net earnings, $4,170,425. 
The movement of freight was 3,934,.380 tons, an increase of nearly one-third over 1879. Passengers 
carried, 1,934,406, an increase of a quarter of a million over 1879. 

Railroad lands sold during the year ending June 30, 1880, amounted to 506,951 acres, for which was 
received $1,175,368. Lands sold from June 30 to Nov. 30, 214,342.36 acres, for which was received $581,- 
080.61. 

KAILEOAD LANDS. 

In regard to lands now in the hands of railroad companies, we annex extracts 
from the official reports of land commissioners to the commissioner of statistics: 

MINNESOTA CENTRAL, HASTINGS & DAKOTA AND ST. PAUL & CHICAGO RAILWAYS. 

Hastings & Dakota Railway Company have sold during the year ending Dec. 1st, 1880, 26,325 
acres, at an average of $7.15 per acre. About 280,000 acres remain unsold on the line of said railway 
between Glencoe, McLeod county, and Ortonville, Big Stone county, Minnesota. 

The Minnesota Central Railway Company has about 25,000 acres unsold on the line of the Chi- 
cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway from Minneapolis to Lyle, Mower county, Minnesota. About 
3,000 acres have been sold during the year at an average of $6.95 per acre. 



28 Homes in the Nortb-west. ' ■ -^ 

The St. Paul & Chicago Eailway Company have sold from grant of State swamp land during the 
year 18,351 acres, and have now for sale 425,000 acres of land located in every county in the State west 
of the Mississippi river. Geo. E. Skinnek, Land Commissioner, Faribault. 

ST. PAUL, MINNEAPOLIS & MANITOBA RAILWAY. 

Sales of land made by this company during the eleven months ending Nov. 30th last, amount in 
the aggregate to 196,867.51 acres. The company has now for sale lands situated in Wright, McLeod, 
Meeker, Renville, Kandiyohi, Chippewa, Swift, Pope, Stevens, Grant, Traverse, WDkin, "Stearns, 
Morrison, Todd, Douglas, Otter Tail, Becker, Clay, Polk, Marshall and Kittson counties, 2,120,980 
acres. On east side of Mississippi river in Anoka, Isanti, Sherburne, Mille Lacs, Benton and Morri- 
son counties, 168,400 acres. These lands may be divided into three general classes : 

1. Heavtly timbered lands, lying in the counties of Hennepin, Carver, Wright, McLeod, 
Meeker and Stearns. 

This district is covered with heavy and valuable timber, such as oak, maple, basswood, elm, but- 
ternut, white and black ash, etc. The land is generally undulating, and the soil is a deep black 
loam, well adapted to the culture of all kinds of small grain and corn. 

It is remarkably well watered by streams and beautiful lakes, in the vicinity of which are usu- 
ally found valuable grazing and meadow lands— making it suitable for stock raising. 

As a subdivision of this general class of lands, and resembling them in some particulars, are to 
be included the lands east of the Mississippi river, in the counties of Anoka, Isanti, Sherburne, Mille 
Lacs, Benton and Morrison. These are mostly open timber and brush lands, having a gently rolling 
surface, and a light, warm, loamy soil, producing very rapid growth, and as well adapted to the cul- 
ture of corn as any other part of the State. 

2. Partly timbered Lands.— These lands, situated in Meeker, Kandiyohi, Stearns, Todd, Pope, 
Douglas and Otter Tail counties, are in that intermediate part of the State, where nature blends 
prairie and woodland in beautiful alternation, symmetry and useful proportion. The surface is 
gently undulating, with a deep, rich, black loam soil, from two to three feet deep, and which will 
produce anything and everything usually grown on the farm of the nineteenth century. 

Both the lines of this company run through this region and afford excellent facilities for its de- 
velopment and progress. Good towns, villages, churches, schools, and all the requirements of civi- 
lization abound, commensurate with the requirements of the country. 

3. Peairie Lands.— These choice lands are on the line of the road in Swift, Stevens, Big Stone, 
Grant, Traverse, Wilkin, Clay, Polk, Marshall and Kittson counties. Some of this district is a com- 
paratively new country, through which the railroad was only completed in the autumn of 1878. 
Notwithstanding this, it is already settling up with a rapidity which is without a parallel in any 
other part of the State. This class of lands includes that most fertile portion of the State known as 
the famous Red River Valley of the North. 

The selling prices of this company's lands are from $2.50 to $10 per acre, according to quality and 
location; the average selling price is $5. 

To actual settlers in the Red River Valley an amount nearly equal to one-half of the purchase 
money is allowed on all lands brought under cultivation in three years from the date of sale. This 
rebate is made for the sole purpose of inducing speedy settlement and cultivation. 

D. A. McKiNLAY, Land Commissioner, St. Paul. 

ST. PAITIj & DIILrTH KAILROAD. 

. The sales of St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Company to Nov. 30th, 1880, foot up 31,175.91 acres. 

From actual examination we are prepared to state that the entu-e country is in a very prosperous 
condition, not a single instance having been found where any settler required any assistance, beyond 
that given every winter in the purchase of wood and ties, and such other material as may be cut 
from the lands in the process of clearing. 

The St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Co. offers for sale upwards of 1,000,000 acres of agricultural lands. 

The lands are sold in tracts of forty acres and upwards, for cash or on long credit : a liberal de- 
duction being made for entire cash iiayment. 

When lands are sold on credit the price or value of the land is divided into eight equal install- 
ments, payable annually without interest. To induce settlers on some portions of the line, the com- 
pany oft"ers to sell lands in tracts of forty acres and upwards, at rate of $5 per acre, payable in eight 
annual installments without interest, and agi'ces to purchase during four successive years all the 
ties, wood, etc., that may be cut from the lands cleared and cultivated, and to pay for same at regu- 
lar rates as rapidly as delivered on track. By these means employment is given to settlers while 
clearing land for a term of years, by the end of which time they will be in a condition of independ- 
ence. The lands offered for sale are situate in the several counties of St. Louis, Carlton, Pine, Chi- 



Homes in th.e North.-west. . 29 

sago, Aitkin, Kanabec, Isanti, Mille Lacs, Cook, Lake, Crow Wins?, Morrison, Benton, Sherburne, 
Anoka and Washington, making a total of 1,27'2,729.08 acres. 

The heavy timber which covers so large a portion of the lands of the St. Paul <fe Duluth Eailroad 
Company, shelters them from the strong winter's wind, and renders tlicm capable of raising winter 
wheat of the first quality, while spring wheat is sown with as equal a certainty of yield as in any 
other portion of the State. 

Corn, rye, oats, barley, and all the vegetables are grown with great facility, and wiU amply repay 
the farmer for the labor bestowed upon them. 

The hardwood lands, so called, are interspersed wath natural meadows or grazing lands, which 
afford excellent facilities for grazing purposes, and will make the finest stock farms in the North- 
west. Hay in abundance for keeping stock during the winter may be had for tlie cutting, the nutri- 
tious quality of the grass being such tliat cattle do not require grain. Red Top and Blue Joint grow 
naturally wherever the timber is cut and clearings made, rcacliing a height of seven feet and cutting 
from three and one-half to four tons per acre. Within the past few years quite a number of settlers 
taking advantage of the facilities for grazing and other requisites that abound along this road for 
stock raising purposes, have taken lands and are successfully raising the finer grades of stock for 
market. Large numbers of cattle are fattened for tlie various markets along the line of the St. Paul 
ik Duluth Railroad, and the mining towns on Lake Superior. Large quantities of hay (which is be- 
coming an important article of trade), are also transported to the same points. 

There are a, number of special haj^ markets tliroughout this region, where baling for shipment is 
carried on largely, and where there is ready sale for the wood and ties and other products of the 
timber lands. 

The most prominent improvement made in the last few years is the Mahtowa stock farm, situate 
near the old Black Hoof station, twelve miles from Northern Pacific Junction, or thirty-six miles by 
vail from Duluth. Less than two years ago the entire township might be said to have been a wilder- 
ness — to-day of the farm proper which includes over 80n acres, 450 acres have been cleared and 
seeded to tame grasses. About 1.50 head of cattle are being wintered, including a herd of about 
thirty short horns of the most approved families of thoroughbreds. 

A large quantity of other stock, Berkshire swine, Lincoln sheep, etc., is kept on the farm. Large 
and permanent buildings have been erected and the results so far give practical demonstration of 
the wisdom of those who inaugurated the enterprise. 

Since the opening of this farm the country in the vicinity is being rapidly filled up with home- 
stead settlers, nearly all government lands being taken and rapidly put under cultivation. 

The soil is excellent; and when the timber is cut, most excellent grass springs up, affording good 
grazing at once. 

With a good market, plenty of work the entii-e year and good crops without failure, as a matter 
of course, the peoj^le are prosperous. It could not be otherwise. Those who started in this part of 
the State a few years ago with little or nothing, are now generally well-to-do, and settlers who came 
in later are fast acquiring a competency. 

Although the winters of Minnesota are apparently longer, the actual number of days in which 
stock has to be fed here is no greater than in Ohio and Illinois. All stock requires shelter dvuring 
the winter in this climate, but no more so than in Indiana, Ohio or Illinois ; the chilling winter rains 
of those states being tar more injurious to the stock than the severest cold of this State. Timber 
being close at hand, strong warm buildings for the shelter of stock may be erected at very small 
cost, whUe abundance of clean, fresh water being supplied from numerous lakes and running 
streams, present advantages that will make the business of stock raising amongst the most profit- 
able in the State. ,\ 

It requires also but very little outlay to commence and operate a farm along the line of this 
road. Good, substantial and comfortable houses can be built at the mere cost of the labor required 
to erect them; game of all kinds is found in abundance ; the lakes and streams of water abound in 
fish; the products of the farm find ready sale ; the lumber region will furnish them witli employ- 
ment during the winter season. Philip S. Hareis, Manager Land Department, St. Paul. 

CHICAGO & NOETHWESTEKN KAILWAY COMPANY. 

The Winona <fe St. Peter Railroad Company have still unsold in Redwood, Murray, Lyon, Lin- 
coln, Yellow Medicine and Lac Qui Parle counties, 069,553 acres. kv 

The prices of these lands vary according to quality and location witu re.si)ect particularly to' 
railroad facilities. The range of prices is 12.00 to $8.00 per acre. But few pieces are more than $6.00. 
per acre, and they are in close proximity to towns and imijortant stations. 

In my last report I stated tliat a railroad was being constructed from Tracy, on the Winona & 
St. Peter Railroad, in a westerly direction into the Territory of Dakota. During the past season 
this road has been extended from Volga, D. T., (where work was suspended last year,) to Pierre, on 



30 • Homes in the North-west. 

the Missouri river, a distance of about 184 miles. The building of this line, now 255 miles long, has 
opened up vast tracts of very desirable land subject to pre-emption and homestead settlement. This 
fact will explain the comparative small sale of lands belonging to this grant in the State of Minne- 
sota. This company has also made sales of large quantities of its lands along the westerly end of 
its line in Dakota. Very large areas of Dakota land tapped by the lines of railway controlled by 
the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, have been placed under cultivation during 1880. These facts 
all enhance the value and desirability of the lands in Minnesota, but in i^ursuance of the liberal 
policy heretofore adopted by this company, the prices at which the lands are offered for sale have 
not been advanced. 

The purchaser under contract is required to make payment as follows : The first year one-fifth 
of the purchase price, with interest on the balance at six per cent. The second year, interest only 
on the balance of the purchase price. The balance of the purchase price in two, three, four and five 
years, with interest in advance each year on unpaid balances — e.xcepting the last year, which is one- 
fifth of the purchase price only. To parties who desire to pay the full amount of the purchase 
price in advance, a discount of I'i;'^ per cent, is made from the regular price. 

C. H. Simmons, Land Commissioner, Chicago. 

NOKTHERN PACIFIC EAILEOAD COMPANY. 

The company has now for sale in the State of Minnesota the following lands : St. Louis, Mille 
Lacs, Aitkin, Crow Wing, Cass, Morrison, Todd, Wadena, Otter Tail, Becker and Polk counties' 
1,451,136 acres. The lands of the Westers Railroad in the counties of Stearns, Morrison, Crow Wing 
and Todd, amounting to 251,319 acres, are also for sale at this office. 

These lands lie in three several sections or divisions of country, formed by the water shed. 

St Louis county lies east of the dividing ridge, between the waters of the Mississippi river and 
Lake Superior, and hence is in the lake basin. This county is heavily timbered with pine. 

Mille Lacs, Aitkin, Crow Wing, Cass, Morrison, Todd and Wadena counties are in the valley of 
the Upi^er Mississippi river. 

Mille Lacs county is covered with a dense growth of pine and has numerous lakes and small 
streams. 

Aitkin county has a heavy growth of white pine in its northern portion, and considerable hard 
maple, oak, ash, butternut and basswood further south, where the country is broken by fertile mea- 
dow land and dotted with beautiful lakes. 

Crow Wing county.— The uplands are covered with pine, while much oak, ash and maple is 
found on the river bottoms. There are excellent farming lands in the valley of the Mississippi river, 
which flows through the county from north to south. 

Cass county.— The surface is more varied than that of almost any other county in the State. It 
contains an immense number of lakes, and it is from here that the Mississippi river takes its start 
for the Gulf of Mexico. There are extensive forests, excellent meadow lands, and many prairie 
openings. 

Morrison county teems with natural wealth. One-fourth is rich prairie, in the northern and 
eastern portions a heavy pine growth is found, while the remainder of the forests contain hard wood. 

Todd county resembles Morrison, containing rich agricultural lands and much timber. 

Wadena county. — Fully two-thirds is fertile prairie land with strong, deep soil : the other third 
is well timbered. 

The counties of Otter Tail, Becker and Polk are west of the divide between the Mississippi and 
Red rivers, and hence are in the valley of the latter stream. 

Otter Tail county — one of the largest in Minnesota, and the most popvilous of any in which the 
railroad company has land. One-half of its surface is rolling prairie, extremely fertile ; the balance 
is heavily timbered, and the entu-e county is dotted with fine lakes. 

Becker county— one of the most attractive in the State. It is about one-half prairie and one- 
half timber. In all parts there are charming lakes with timbered banks, or gently sloping prairie 
lands about them. 

Polk county contains some of the richest prauie lands in the valley. There is but little timber* 
and the surface is well drained by many streams which run into the Red River. 

The settlement on the line of this railroad in Minnesota is preceding steadily and healthfully, 
the best class of substantial, thrifty people selecting locations and establishing homes. The coun- 
try is extremely varied, the dense tracts of valuable timber lands running into a region beavitifuUy 
diversified with prairie and timber, and the whole terminating in the rich open prairies of the Red 
River valley. 

The great forests are yielding millions of feet of valuable pine lumber annually, suppljang the 
inhabitants of the open prairie westward through Dakota. Many lumbermen are employed in this 
extensive industry, thus affording steady employment for settlers, who can devote themselves to 



Homes in ttie Nortti-west. 31 

their own farms during the warm months and profitably employ their winter in the woods. Hay is 
obtained at little cost from the rich river bottoms and natural ijrairies throuf,'hout the resrion, and 
in many localities i)rotitable farms are opened in the forests where grain and vegetables are grown 
in abundance and perfection, with markets near by. 

Lakes are found in great numbers throughout the country. In the "Park Region," which is lo- 
cated about the central part of the Minnesota division of the railroad, the lakes are surrounded 
partly by handsome natural groves, and partly by fertile prairie openings, forming a most attrac- 
tive country for diversified farming. 

The country westward to the Red River, which separates Minnesota from Dakota, is well-known 
as possessing a soil remarkable for its power of producing the best wheat in the world, the famous 
No. 1 "Hard." This rich valley country extends about a hundred miles each way from the railroad. 

Towns and villages are located at short intervals through the State, and these have already 
assumed the character and appearance of the substantial towns of the old eastern states. Society 
is founded on a basis of refinement and intelligence, and the religious and educational advantages 
are equal to those of the oldest parts of the country. 

Minnesota is greatly benefited by the settlement of the lands opened in Dakota and beyond by 
the Northern Pacific Railroad. The population on the line has increased from 40,000 to 50,ooo in the 
last two years, and all pay tribute to the State, as the rapidly increasing wealth of the new settler is 
in a great measure disbursed within its limits. The oiaeuing of the Territory of Montana, so rich in 
natural resources, will advantage the State, and the wealth of that territory will begin to flow in 
next season. 

The tide of emigration is undoubtedly now flowing with greater impetus to the wheat fields, 
stock ranges, and mineral regions opened by the Northern Pacific than to any other portion of the 
United States, and the spring of 1881 will bring an increase of population much in excess of any 
previous year. The outlet for the whole great Northwest is through Minnesota, and the growth of 
the territories west must add to the importance and wealth of the State. 

The lands of the company are offered at S2.50 per acre, upward, according to location and 
quality, on very easy terms, and preferred stock is taken at par on all lands east of the Missouri 
River. James B. Power, Land Commissioner, St. Paul. 

Drake & Wilder, trustees of the St. Paul & Sioux City road, report that the company has sold 
from its land grant, the past year, largely on long time contracts, 2,480 acres, and has unsold 35,217, 
all of which are located in the counties of Renville and Chippewa in this State. 

THE STILLWATER & ST. PAUL EAILEOAD COMPANY'S LANDS 
Are located between the Hastings & Dakota and the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railroads, in 
the counties of Renville, Kandiyohi and Chippewa. 

This company has yet for sale about 60,000 acres of fine prairie lands, with a rich black soil, well 
adapted to wheat raising. 

These lands are sold at five, six and seven dollars per acre, on fifteen years time contract, draw- 
ing interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum. 

On the fifteen years credit plan, the first payment will be only $25 (principal and interest) per 
forty, and in a farm of 160 acres the annual payment will be $100.00. 

The agent for the sale of these lands is F. S. Christensen, St. Paid, Minn., and applications can 
also be made to A. G. Luce, Granite Falls, or \Vm. Christensen, Olivia Station, Renville county, Minn. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

Tlie educational department is under the charge of a superintendent of public 
instruction, appointed by the governor. Each county elects by popular vote a county 
superintendent. Common school districts have boards of three trustees ; indepen- 
dent districts have six directors, and special districts such number as the law in each 
case determines. 

The following statistics of public schools for 1880 is taken from the report of the 
Superintendent of Public Instruction: 

Value of school houses and sites $3,156,210.00 

Permanent school fund 4,450,000.00 

Current school fund 150,485.90 

Amount to each scholar 1-50 

Number of resident pupils between five and twenty-one years of age 172,442 

Number in public schools not of school age or non-residents 7,806 

Total enrollment 1880 180,248 



32 Homes in the Nortti-west. 

Total number of school houses 3,693 

Total number of teachers 5,215 

Average monthly wages of male teachers $35.29 

Average wages of female teachers 27.52 

Total paid for teachers' wages $933,209 

Total cost of schools for 1880 is nearly as follows: 

Apportioned from school fund $150,485.90 

Licenses, fines and estrays 20,943.00 

One mill tax 257,000.00 

Special taxes 900,000.00 

Total cost $1,328,428.90 

Cost to a scholar enrolled $7.37 

NOKMAIi SCHOOLS. 

There are three Normal schools supported by the State government, located at Winona, Man- 
kato and St. Cloud. The institution at "Winona has been in existence for twenty-one years, and dur- 
ing that time "it has had under instruction in its normal department seventeen hundred young 
men and women, the sons and daughters of our farmers, mechanics and business men." 

The Normal school at Mankato was established twelve years ago, and that at St. Cloud eleven 
years since. The enrollment for 1880 was: Winona, 342; Mankato, 179; St. Cloud, 205; total, 726. 
Total number of graduates for the year, 78; since establishment, 774. Graduates of these schools 
are preferred in selection of teachers for public schools. 

FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE DEAF, DUMB AND BLIND. 

This institution is located at Faribault. The attendance for 1880 numbered 134 deaf and dumb, 
and 43 blind pupils. Pupils are taught to work at various branches of industry, among which are 
printing, coopering, shoe-making, tailoring, broom making, dress making, etc. The institution is 
free, and open to all deaf, dumb and blind in the State between the ages of ten apd twenty-five 
years. The only charge is for incidental expenses. 

HOSPITALS FOE INSANE. 
There are two ho.spitals for the insane, one located at St. Peter, and the other at Rochester. The 
number of patients reported at the St. Peter hospital Nov. 30th, 1880, was 612; at the Rochester hos- 
pital, 113. The expenditures.of the first hospital for 1880, amounted to $103,195.83; for the second 
hospital, $26,458.53. 

KEFOEM SCHOOL. 
This institution is located on the east side of the Mississippi river, nearly midway between St. 
Paul and Minneapolis. There are at present 119 inmates. The expenditures for 1880 amounted to 
$37,679.05. 

THE STATE PEISON 
Is located at Stillwater. The convict labor is leased at present to Seymour, Sabin & Co., for manu- 
facturing purposes. Number of convicts, 254. The expenses for 1880 amounted to $48,678.22; the 
earnings to $25,707.95. 

MINNESOTA UNIVEESITY. 

(See description of University in Minneapolis department.) 
INDIANS IN MINNESOTA. 

For the Chippewas of Minnesota three reservations have been set apart— the White Earth Re- 
serve, containing thirty-six square miles of the best farming land in Minnesota, with abundance of 
wood and water ; the Red Lake Reserve, where arable land is limited in quantity, but sufilcient for 
the needs of the tribe, and of good quality ; and the Leech Lake Reserve, where there are only a few 
patches of land scattered along the shores of the lake and accessible only by canoe, on which fair 
crops of corn and potatoes can be raised. The rest is covered with pine timber, and for agriculture 
would not be worth the heavy expense of clearing it. 

The three thousand Indians at White Earth and Red Lake are practically self-supporting, hav- 
ing harvested this year 39,000 bushels of wheat, 13,000 bushels of corn, and 22,000 bushels of potatoes. 
Nearly all at White Earth wear citizen's dress, live in houses, send their children to school, attend 
church on the Sabbath, and lead a quiet, industrious, agricultural life. Many have surrounded 
themselves with the comforts of civilized lite, and a casual observer would notice but little differ- 
ence between their settlement and the white farming communities of the frontier. 

For many years the Red Lake Indians have managed to take care of themselves, .supplementing 
the fish and small game of the reserve with moderate but never failing crops of corn, and some 
potatoes. For several years past their garden patches have been enlarged eachjyear ; some property 



Homes in the North-west. 33 

In the way of stock, cattle and implements has been accumulated, and wheat raising has been suc- 
cessfully introduced. One after another they are renouncing wigwams for log houses, built by 
their own hands; and, with very small expenditures of money, are slowly and steadily advancing 
to that degree of civilization which the White Earth Indians reached in a few years, by means of 
liberal appropriations from Congress and generous contributions from missionary societies. The 
Red Lake Reserve is remote from settlements, is suited to all the wants of the Indians there, and, 
on the whole, is as good a home as could be found for them, and one to which they are devotedly 
attached. 

The only hope for the Pillager Chippewas at Leech Lake lies in their removal to White Earth; 
and though such removal a few years ago would have met with determined opposition, it is believed 
that many are now beginning to realize the hopelessness of the situation at Leech Lake, and the 
advantages which the White Earth reservation offers. Without doubt if a yoke of cattle or a hou.se, 
or some other assistance in the way of getting established at a new place could be offered them, 
many families would be ready to remove thither at once. A gradual removal of thi.s sort would be 
more advantageous and economical than to undertake to transplant the whole tribe at one time. 
But vsdthout some appropriation from Congress for the purchase of cattle, building of houses, fur- 
nishing seed, implements, etc., for the first season, nothing in this direction can be attempted with 
any hope of success. 

At White Oak Point and vicinity, and at Mille Lacs and Snake River, are 770—525, and 250 Chip- 
pewas, respectively. The White Oak Point Chippewas have a barren, worthless reservation on 
which they cannot live. The Mille Lacs are on a fine tract of land, which can never be their own 
(their only title to it being the privilege of occupancy during good behavior) and which is coveted 
and trespassed on by whites. The branch of the Mille Lacs at Snake river are on small tracts of 
land purchased by themselves at government rates, in the neighborhood of Brunswick, Minn., near 
the Northern Pacific Railroad. All of these Indians are in close contact with whites, have free 
access to liquor, and are grafting on to barbarism all the degradation of which civilization ia 
capable. Wretched, poverty-stricken, drunken, debauched and diseased, it might almost be ques- 
tioned whether they are not even now beyond hope. But the interests of the white communities in 
their vicinity would require that some determined effort be made for the reclamation of these In- 
dians, even though they had them.selves forfeited all claims to humane treatment from a govern- 
ment which committed the blunder, if not the crime, of relegating them to a reservation or leaving 
them in a position in which a white man would become a savage. Tlie settlements and lumber 
camps must be relieved of the demoralizing presence of those whom they have demoralized, and it 
becomes the imperative duty of the government to give these Indians a new home where they will 
be out of the way of the whites, and where they will have an opportunity for and encouragement in 
a better mode of living. Fortunately there is no question as to the place to which they should be 
removed, the White Earth Reservation being ample, both in size and resources, to accommodate all 
the Indians in Minnesota. The best methods and means to be used to induce the Indians to re- 
move would be a subject for future consideration, the immediate necessity being an appropriation 
to defray the expenses of the removal and assist the Indians in opening farms, putting up houses, 
&c. I would recommend that, at its next session, the attention of Congress be called to the 
urgency of this matter. The sum required to remove and settle these Indians is far less than the 
waste and loss which is the inevitable outcome of pauperism and vagrancy. Population of Agency 
Indians in 1880, 6,198. — Bep. Com. Indian Affairs. 

EXEMPTION LAWS. 

The State law exempts from attachment, levy, or sale upon execution, or any other process issu- 
ing out of any court within the State, a homestead not exceeding eighty acres, with dwelling house 
thereon and its appurtenances; one-half acre in village less than 5,000 inhabitants, or one lot in city 
over 5,000 inhabitants, with dwelling on each. 

Exemptions: Wearing apparel, books, pictures, household effects, up to $500; ;i cows, 10 swine, 
1 yoke oxen and a horse, or 1 span of horses or mules, 20 sheep and their wool, food for stock for one 
year's support, 1 wagon, 1 sleigh, 2 plows, 1 dray, and other farming utensils not exceeding $300; 
provisions and fuel for support of debtor and family for one year ; tools and instruments of me- 
chanic or miner ; stock in trade to $400; library and implements of professional man; sevvring ma- 
chine; 50 bushels of wheat, same of oats, 15 of potatoes, 3 of corn, 30 of barley; wages of laboring 
man to $20. Redemption: Real estate sold under execution and foreclosure, one year; for taxes, 
three years. Married Women : All property acquired by wife before or after marriage remains her 
separate estate, neither controlled by or subject to debt of husband. Interest: Legal, 7 per cent.; 
by contract in writing, 10. Usury: Interest taken above 10 per cent., or compounding, voids the 
whole debt. 



34 



Homes in the North.-west. 



MANUFACTUBES. 

Amount of lumber scaled and manufactiired in 1880, was as follows: 

Total number of logs scaled 2,171,952 

Total feet of logs scaled 419,282,190 

Total feet of logs sawed 379,009,080 

Total feet of lumber manufactured 391,980,230 

Total number of lath " 86,523,700 

Total number of shingles " 150,665,750 

Total number of pickets " 479,075 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Internal Revenue collections for 1880— First District, (office at Rochester) S104,534.64 

Second District, (office at St. Paul) 273,922.91 

Receipt of duties collected at the St. Paul custom house amounted to 16,934.73 

Duluth " " " 7,67L94 

Pension claims paid for 1880 amounted to 182,880.83 

AGKICULTITKAL PRODUCTS. 

Statistics of manufacturing and agricultural operations are made up from returns of county 
officers to the secretary of state and commissioner of statistics, and crop returns are reported each 
year in June. The acreage, theretore, is the only basis tor estimates of the year after that date 
The following summary is made up for the year ending June, 1880, from the tables in the last report 
of the commissioner of statistics : 

TOTALS OF ACREAGE AND CROPS OF 1879, AND ACREAGE OF 1880. 



Crops. 


Total 
Acreage 

1879. 


Total yield 

1879. 


Average 

yield 
per acre. 


Total 
Acreage 

1880. 


Wheat 


2,7(',2,521 

567,371 

379,766 

96,951 

11,534 

3,380 

37,910 

2,156 

12,966 


31,218,634 

20,667,933 

12,939,901 

2,423,932 

172,887 

33,163 

3,915,890 

24,434 

99,378 

39,376 

18,460 

446,946 


11.30 
36.42 
33.95 
24.87 
14.98 

9.80 
103.26 
11.33 

7.66 


2,963,325 


Oats 


688,415 




455,514 


Barle V 


118,856 


Rve 


11,688 




3,177 




40,618 




2,105 




45,236 


Timothy Seed 












Sugar Cane Svrup, gallons 


5,033 


88.80 


7,317 



OTHER AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF 1879. 

Cultivated Hav, tons . . . 194,994'Hops, fts 4,071!Grapes, Its 

Wild Hav, tons 1,200,506'Maple Sugar, Itis 58,462 StrawbeiTies, quarts. . 

Butter, lbs 15,639,069, Maple Syrup, galls 10,670 Tobacco, ffis 

Cheese, Its 586,448 Apples, bushels 124,261 Wool, Its 



135,086 
237,626 
65,089 
948,184 



PRICES OF WHEAT DURING 1880. 



The following table from the Pioneer Press, gives prices paid for Nos. 1, 2 and 3 
wheat in the Minneapolis market during the year 1880: 



DATE. 

January 1 

January 6 1.20 

January 11 1.18 

Jani'.ary 13 1.16 

January 14 1.13 

January 15 1.15 

January 16 1.13 

January 18 1.11 

January 19 1.15 

January 21 1.12 

January 23 l.io 

January 26 1.08 

January 30 LIO 



February 1 . 
February 3 . 
February 4 . 
February 9 . 
February 11 . 
February 16 . 
February 23 . 

March 6 

March 10 



No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. 
.$1.22 $1.19 $1.11 

1.17 

1.15 

1.13 

1.10 

1.12 

1.10 

1.08 

1.12 

1.09 

1.07 

1.05 

1.07 

1.05 

1.07 

1.05 

1.07 

1.10 

1.13 

1.15 

1.12 

1.10 



1.08 
1.09 
1.08 
LIO 
L13 
L16 
1.18 
1.15 
1.13 



1.09 

1.07 

1.05 

1.02 

1.08 

1.02 

1.00 

1.04 

1.01 

99 

97 

99 

97 

98 

97 

99 

1.02 



DATE. 

March 14. 

March 20 1.12 

March 23 1.09 

March 31 1.07 

April 9 1.05 

April 20 1.02 

April 23 1.05 

May 6 1.09 

Mav 9 1.11 

May 20 1.08 

May24 1.06 

Mav25 1.01 



No. 1. No. 2. No. 3.1 DATE. 
.11.15 $1.12 $1.04August 4. 
1.01 'August 



May26 98 

June 2 95 

June 10 98 

June 21 93 

June 25 90 

June 28 88 

1.05 1 July 10 91 

1.07 July 13 95 

1.05 July 20 1.00 

1.02 1 July 28 97 



1.09 

1.06 

1.04 

1.02 

99 

1.02 

1.06 

1.08 

1.05 

1.03 

98 

95 

92 

95 

90 

87 

85 

88 

92 

97 

94 



98l August 11 

96*August 24 

94 August 26 

91 September 10.. 
94 September 13.. 

98 September 15.. 
1.00 September 27. . 

97 October 4 

95' October 11 

90 October 17 

87 November 4 . . 
84 November 7 . . 
87 November 18 . . 
82 November 26 . . 

99 Novem))er 30 . . 
77 December 2 . . 
80 December 4 . . 
84 December 10 . . 
89 December 14 . . 
86 December 21 . . 



No. 1. 

,.$ 94 
, . 90 
, . 84 
, . 87 
. . 83 



No. 2. No. 3. 

$ 91 $ 83 

87 79 



87 



81 
84 
81 
83 
85 
87 
85 
88 
90 
92 
94 
92 
94 
96 
93 
91 
91 
89 
87 
85 



73 

76 
73 
75 
77 
79 
77 
80 
82 
84 
86 
84 
86 



Homes in tlie Northwest. 



35 



The following named counties produced over one million bushels of wheat each in 1879 : Dakota, 
Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Olmsted, Wabasha and Winona. Lowest average jield, 8.!J'2 bushels 
per acre; highest, 12.28. 

The leading corn producing counties were Blue Earth, Dakota, Faribault, Fillmore, Goodhue, 
HenneiJin, Houston, Le Sueur and Olmsted. Lowest average per acre, I'i.'.iry bushels; highest, 46. .53. 

The counties of Dodge, Fillmore, Goodhue, Mower, Olmsted, Wabasha and Winona, each jiro- 
duced over 100,000 bushels of barley. Lowest average, 22.65; highest, 28.51 bushels per acre. 

The acreage of flax for 187'J was six times that of the previous year, and the acreage for 1880 over 
three times that of 1879. 

The total number of farms reported for 1880, is 74,888, showing an increase of 6,823 over the 
previous year; total cultivated area, 4,503,761 acres, an increase of 500,000 acres over 1879. 

The stock returns for 1880, are: Horses, 251,346; cattle, 560,210; mules, 88,60; sheep, 250,873; hogs, 
216,913. 

rOKESTKY ASSOCIATION. 

The necessity of protecting the timber resources and providing for the future on our large prai- 
ries, led some years since to the formation of a Forestry Association. An appropriation of S2,.500 
was made by the legislature to aid the association in its work. A tree planter's manual has been 
published by Hon. Leonard B. Hodges, of St. Paul, containing everything of value pertaining to 
forest tree planting, which may be obtained free by application to that gentleman. The report for 
1880 shows that there were planted on "Arbor Day" 419 acres; number planted during season, 4,082 
acres ; number of acres now growing, 25,331. 

VITAL STATISTICS. 

In the tables tor 1879 we find some information that may be of interest to home readers, and we 
make the following summary : 

BIKTHS. 

Total number of births, 23,474, of which 12,190 were males, and 11,206 females. Twin births, 264 
males, 200 females; triplets, 12 males, 6 females; illegitimate births, 180. 

DEATHS. 

Total number of deaths, 8,777; male, 4,693; female, 4,084. For the causes of death consult the 
following table : 



Measles 57 

Scarlatina 223 

Diphtheria 951 



Look Jaw 7 j Joint Diseases 5 

Epilepsy 16'Tumor 17 

Convulsions 234 iUlcer 4 

Quinsy 5i Brain Diseases 113 [Abscesses 11 

Croup 22llOther Nervous Diseases 12|Stillborn 164 

Whooping Congli riSjPericarditis 2 !Premature Birth 325 

Typhoid Fever 297 1 Aneurism 11 Cyanosis 4 

Erysipelas 31 1 Heart Diseases 207 |Other Malformations 5 

Puerperal Fever 30 Hemorrhage 17!Teething 34 

Influenza 9;Epistais 3iChildbirth 95 

Dysentery 76JLaryngitis 4 Change of Life 3 

Diarrhaa 75 Bronchitis 38 Abortion 1 

Cholera Infantum 409 Pleurisy 14 1 Womb Diseases 4 

Cholera Morbus 43; Congestion of Lungs 157 Flooding 1 

Remittent Fever 3| Pneumonia 106 Old Age 284 

Spotted Fever 53i Asthma 28 Marasmus 39 



Eheumatism 43 

Fever 70 

Delirium Tremens 4 

Intemperance 1 

Worms 7 

Syphilis 2 

Dropsy 179 

Cancer 124 

Canker 11 

Mortification 2 

Scrofula 16 

Consumption 874 

Hydrocephalus 146 

Tubercular Meningitis 21 

Cephalitis 4 

Apoplexy 48 



Paralysis 82[ Uterine Diseases 10 

Insanity 3iSpinal Diseases 27 



Other Lung Diseases 239 Atrophy 25 

Gastritis 9 1 Wounds 2 

Enteritis 156 Fractures 2 

Peritonitis 23 Burns and Scalds 31 

Hernia 3 Poison 14 

Spleen 3 Drowning 57 

Stomach Diseases 37 Suffocation 6 

Jaundice 8 [Lightning 9 

Liver Disease 51, Railroad Accident 28 

Other Bowel Diseases 45 Shooting 20 

Bright's Disease 15 Otherwise 197 

Diabetes 15 Murder lo 

Gravel 12 Suicide— Poison 6 

Inflammation of Bladder 6 " Hanging 6 

Kidney Diseases 17' " Shooting 8 

Ovarian Dropsy 2' " Drowning 2 



Otherwise 23 



MINNEAPOLIS AND ITS SUBURBS. 




fi HERE are few cities in the 
country so universally ad- 
mired as this young and 
thriving metropolis of Min- 
nesota. Its beautiful homes, em- 
bowered in trees and shriibbery, 
its clean and inviting lawTis, and 
numberless flower gardens and 
greenhouses, audits broad sidewalks 
and wide streets, combine to make a 
drive or ramble through the residence 
portion of the city a soiu'ce of constant 
pleasure and surprise. Its unique and 
substantial business blocks and huge man- 
ufactories give it an air of enterprise and 
thiitt that causes the eyes of the business 
man to open wide in wonder at the unexpected 
reabty, and a visit to the scenes* of activity at its miUs and manufactories on both 
sides of the river, makes him think there is considerable truth in the stories of 
"Western enterprise, in which Minneapolis has recently been given so large a share. 

One can scarcely make the stranger believe that this is the work of but a quarter 
of a century, or that the population has increased from 10,000 in 1860, to nearly 50,000 
in 1881, and that there are over fifty large manufactories operated by water power, 
besides the ntunerous extensive ones run by steam. 

It was only on the 3d of July last that the bi-centennial anniversary of the dis- 
covery of Saint Anthony Falls was celebrated at the State University, and the history 
of the two centimes told in poetry and prose. But to the thousands gathered on the 
campus of the grand educational institution in its suburb, nothing could speak more 
eloquently of the progress and greatness of our State than a glance over its metrop- 
olis, stiU in its infancy, yet spreading out for miles within view, and including 
within its Limits the largest flour- 
ing mills in the world, and man- 
ufactories which send their pro- 
ducts to every leading city on the 
globe. 

A recent visitor thus describes, 
in Lippincott's Magazine, the im- 
pressions received upon entering 
Minneapolis : 

"A- little farther on we are introduced 
to Minneapolis through its beautiful environs 
There are no dirty little straggling cabins, 
overflowing with unwashed children, coming 
out along the railroad to meet us, and claim.ing 
OHr sympathizing attention, but pretty turrets and 
high jutting windows and balconies of almost palatial 
residences, rise above the trees on picturesque knolls. 




Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 



39 



through which we oatch glimptses of cool lawns shaven like velvet, broad piazzas and rustic seato, 
and hammocks swinging in the shade. The people seem to have taken the cue whicli Nature gave 
them, and have added the beauty of the highest art to her perfect work. The groverf of forest tr«06 
and the sloping grounds have been improved and adorned in such a manner as to almost hide the 
hand that has touched them. Most of the finer buildings are built of a soft, gi-ay stone, againat 
which the dark-green hve-leaved native ivy, which entwines itself around the steeples of the highest 
churches in the greatest profu.sion, shows in beautiful contrast, leading us to indulge in that com- 
fortable, satisfied feeling we have about all those plants and shrubs that are children of tlie soil, and 
able to withstand the buffetings of our latitude ^vithout much sheltering care from us. 

"If we could get off here where we first enter the city, and walk down into it through the 
broad, handsome streets, whose dwellings on either hand are set back among trees and suiToumded 
with unfenced lawns glistening vrith the spray of fountains making rainbows in the sunlight, we 
should carry away a picture of Minneapolis with no shadow in it. 

"We cannot see the'river, but we are close beside it, and can hear the pleasant sound of falling 
water and the busy wheels of the many mills which are the basis of all the prosperity of this very 
thriving and prosperous city. At this point, and for some distance above, the river, divided by two 
or three continuous booms for keeping the lumber separate, is fairly choked with logs floating down 
to the mills. Arrived there, they are drawTi up, one by one, as if by magnetic attraction, and in the 
twinkling of an eye, almost, they pass out below in smooth, ribbon-like boards. 

"One cannot help thinking, as he makes the "gi-and round" of the city by carriage (which the 
livery-men expect all visitors to do), across the magnificent suspension bridge, circling Nicollet 
Island — which is a very bouquet of beautiful homes — and over the river again, between the Falls of 
St. Anthony, with the artificial wooden aprons that have converted them into a sort of sloping dam, 
and the delicate Bridal Veil, beyond which rise the pleasant grounds and buildings of the Univer- 
sity, that Minneapolis is remarkably free from the unbeautiful scenes of apparent poverty and 
wretchedness that mar so many cities. 

"You may dismount and go about on foot down all the narrower back streets, and stUl you 
find houses that are true homes and people viith happy faces. Here is shovsn the value of influence 
and effect of surroundings : every builder of no matter how small a cottage, racks his brain for some 
pretty architectural design, and lays out his diminutive grounds with an inspiration caught from 
his wealthier neighbor. And in the arrangement of the magnificent merchants' blocks, with their 

i m m e n se plate-glase 
windows, there is 
evinced an artistic 
taste and skill unsur- 
passed, and rarely 
equaled, in other west- 
ern cities. 

"Minneapolis is the 
pet and pride of the 
Xorthwest, the goal 
toward which many of 
the merchants and 
professional men in 
small country towns 
:i r e looking forward 
tor retirement in mid- 
dle life, or when they 
have accumulated a 
competency. Its ad- 
mirers regard it vnth 
I pride and affection 
tliat borders on ten- 
lerness, because it 
offers so many beauti- 
ful things; things that 
touch the finest per- 
ceptions, to the eye of 
the beholder— r e a 1 1 y 
offered ^g_ persistently 
that you cannot go 
away without a look 
siLTBR cascade:, mdweapolis. at its treasures. On« 





Standard Mills, Minneapolis. Capacity, i,ooo;BABr.EL.s Daily. 



Minneapolis and its Subiarbs. 



41 




NICOLLET HOUSE BLOCK, MINNEAPOLIS. 

does not think of It simply as a city, but all its tempting resorts, the lakes and Fort Snelling and 
Minnehaha, with which it is intimately connected by raU and carriage-ways, enter into account." 

The description of our city given above is a good illustration of the manner in 
which visitors are captivated by the unexpected beauty of many parts of it. It 
spreads over considerable territory, and one of the most noticeable features of the 
city is the amount of space embraced in the grounds about even the hiimbler homes. 
The mania for covering a lot with all the tenements that can be built upon it has 
scarcely begun, except near the business centers, and every one can enjoy the grati- 
fying sensation of having plenty of room to enjoy freely the exhilarating climate, 
which, more than aught else, is the cause of the rapid growth of our State. 

To "do" Minneapolis thoroughly, one must visit the milling districts on both 
sides of the river, which present an admirable aggregation of sights— a mixture of 
the grand creations of Nature and the works of man— the faUs that give the water- 
power for man's use, and the engineering and architectural skiU to make that power 
available. 

There are some twenty-seven flouring miUs in Minneapolis, with capacities rang- 
ing from seventy-five to f oiu- thousand barrels of flour a day, sending out two miUions 
barrels a year, which goes to all the principal marts* of the world. Trains are 
made up at Minneapolis, loaded with flour from the various nuUs in sacks made 
expressly for exportation pui-poses, and unloaded at New York to steamers for En- 
glish ports, where it is a successful competitor with their own production, grading 
better quahty and costing less. 

Twenty saw miUs receive logs from the river, which have been floated down by 
the spring freshets from the vast pineries of northern Minnesota, and send out two 
hundred millions feet per annum to the markets of the Northwest and South. 



42 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 




Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 



43 



A ramble about the city slioukl include a visit to the residence quarters on both 
sides of the river, which may be made on foot, or by carriage or street cars. 

The suspension bridge across the Mississippi river, the Minnesota University, 
Mineral Spring and the manufacturing district on Hennepin Island, the mammoth 
new Pillsbuiy A mill, the iron bridge below the falls, and the beautiful residences on 
NicoUet Island are attractive places of the East Side. 

In the west division are the immense flouring mills, with elevated railways to un- 
load wheat into the second story of the mills, and load flour for transportation; the 
lai'ge saw mills with their hundreds of men and teams carrying away lumber to the 
storing yards and railways in various parts of the city; the paper, woolen, and cotton 
mills, planing miUs, city water works, cooper shops, elevators, machine shops, and 
dozens of other work shops, make up a scene of activity and business that creates 
wonder in the mind of the visitor unused to the go-ahead ways of western business 
men. 

Near the city, go in what direction you wiU, beautiful lakes dot the landscape, and 
offer pleasant retreats and excellent fishing. Minnehaha Falls, Fort Snelling, Lakes 
Calhoun and Harriet, Lake Como, Twin, Cedar, Crystal, and a dozen other lakes, 
present attractions never surpassed and seldom equalled in the country. 




The Academv or Music, Minneapolis. 



44 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 




Minneapolis and its Subixrbs. 



45 




Crown Roller Mill, Minneapolis. Capacity, 2,400 barrels per day. 

ST. ANTHONY FALLS. 

Tlie water power furnished by the Mis.sissippi river at and above the falls Avas the 
foundation of the prosperity of Minneapolis. While the land in this corner of Hen- 
nepin county was yet a part of the government reservation, the hungry eye of the 
land-seeker was fixed upon it, and when, in 1840, an act of Congress made it subject 
to pre-emption, it was immediately taken jjossession of. The town on the east side 
of the river grew rapidly, and became a lively business point. Even at that early 
date, the "Village of St. Anthony Falls" was looked upon as a rival of St. Paul, but, 
from causes not necessary to mention here, the attention of business men was divert- 
ed to the advantages of the site on the west side of the river, which had been chris- 
tened Minneapolis — "the City of Waters." The first bridge to span the Father of 
Waters was built between the two villages, and maintained by taking toll until the 
union of the two places into one corporation in 1872. Dating from the completion 
of the bridge, in 1852, the growth of the city has been steady, and, since 1870, rapid. 
The population was comprised mainly of eastern people, many of whom were from 
the pine regions of Maine. These early settlers were men of muscle as well as of 
mind, and to their labors in the pine woods during the winter, and in the primitive 
saw miUs at the falls in the summer, we owe the beginning of our growth as a city. 
Lumber was king here, in the early days, the mines of wheat and bonanzas of the 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 



47 



flour trade l)eing discovtu-ios of later years. But the two interests have always 
worked together harmoniously for the advancement of the general welfare. 

The organization of companies for improving and utilizing tlie water power took 
place soon after 8t. Anthony was settled, and the names of manj' of the pioneers 
were on the lists of stockholders. The fall of eighty-two feet within the city limits is 
estimated to give 120, (100 horse-i)ower ; this is naturally divided so as to be available 
on both sides of the river. At present the mills and manufactories operated by water 
power are concentrated near the falls, the water being conveyed through canals to 
the various establishments. 

The preservation of the water power here has been an expensive investment, 
both to our citizens and the government, and few who visit the falls, and see the 
smooth volume of water gliding down the inclined plane, have any idea of the labor 
required to build and keep it in repair, and not many, even of our own citizens, 
know how this Avork was done, or Avhy it became necessary. 

Our State Geologist tells us that the falls were once located as far down the river 
as Fort Snelling, and the evidences along the rocky banks of the river bear evidence 
to the correctness of the statement. The river flows in a bed of limestone of some 
twenty feet in depth, underlying w^hich is a bed of sandstone of considerable depth. 
The torrents falling over the brink of the limestone ledge gradually washed out the 
sandstone beneath, imtil the overhanging rock, being left without sujiport, broke off 
in huge masses. This i^rocess continued for ages, until the falls receded to their 
present location. The last break, which occiirred some ten or twelve years since, 
took of3f masses of rock nearly thirty feet in Avidth, and the occurrence awakened seri- 
ous alarm. The improvements of the two water-power companies, consisting of 
dams, canals, etc., and the construction of a tunnel under Nicollet Island, added to 
the wear and tear of the falls, until it was deemed necessary to take immediate meas- 
ures for preventing the rock being entirely destroyed, nnd the falls reduced to a mere 



*N 



^- 



't2f^ 




p Hi f i;:i%ii!g 




Hennepin Avenue, looking East fkom ■,> asujn(;t(ix Avenue. 



4k8 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 




Minneapolis and its Subiirbs. 



49» 




Southeast Cokner Washington Avenue and Fiest Avenue South. 

rapids. In 1866, the first wooden apron was constructed, and the tunnel filled ui). 
The mill owners and others spent large sums of money on these impi'ovements, 
but the aid of congress being solicited, an appropriation of $50,000 was secured, which 
was afterwards increased, until over half a million dollars has been spent in the work, 
besides what had ab*eady been paid out by private enterprise, the total reaching- 
nearly a million dollars. 

Extending across the river, between the limestone ledge which forms the river- 
bed and the sandstone below, a wall of concrete four feet in thickness and thirty- 
eight feet in height was built, by tunneling under the crest of the falls. This work 
was nearly three years in process of construction, being completed in 1876. The wall 
prevents the action of the water from affecting the sandstone beneath, and the dams 
and wooden apron protect the upper rock from the wear and tear of the elements, 
above. The last apron was built about two years ago, but has lieen kept in thorough 
repair. 

Logs are prevented from going over the apron, and sluice-ways have been jjro- 
vided for their passage at the side of the falls. Dams extend along and across the 
river at the crest of the apron, and a short distance above, from which the canals of 
the various manufacturing establishments receive the water and conduct it to the 
turbine wheels which operate the machinery. As the visitor to the mills walks or 
drives along the street on which they are located, he is not aware that he is travelings 
over numberless streams of rapid running water, for they are hidden by plank cover- 
ings, fitted so closely as to entirely conceal from view everything below. 

On the east side of the river the power is supplied to the various mills and man- 
ufactories in a similar manner to that of the west side, but the improvenxents are not 
so extensive. 



50 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs 




Nicollet Avenue, Looking West feom Washing", on. 




Nicollet Avenue, Looking East from Washington. 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 



51 




The water power is owned and controlled by two organizations, the St. .\nthony 
Falls Water Power Company and the Minneapolis Mill Co. 

The St. Anthony Falls Water Power Co.. controlling the water power on the east 
side of the Mississippi river, was chartered February 26th, 1856, and the Minneapo- 
lis Mill Company, owning and controlling tlie power on the west side of the falls, 
was chartered on the 27th of the same month and year. 

The first dam was bnilt on the east side of the river in 1848, and foitr saw miUs 
built soon after. 

The first dam was bnilt on the west side in 1857-58. and the first fiouring mill — 
the Cataract — built by Eastman & Gibson, in 1858. 

Of the improvements made by the two companies for making the power available, 
Ave quote from, the Minneapolis Board of Trade Eeport: 

"The appliances for controlling and utilizing the water poAver of the Minneapolis 
Mill Company consist of a Ioav or Avaste dam built on the ledge, commencing in the 
center of the channel of the river and connecting Avith the dam of the St. Anthony 
Water PoAver Company, thence running down stream diagonally towards the Avestern 
shore 400 feet; thence a high dam again down stream, parallel Avith the shore 500 
feet, forming a pond aboA^e the mills; thence at right angles 400 feet to tlie pier at the 
head of the canal, upon Avliich last portion is biult the l)lock of saAV mills. With this 
dam a head of 13 feet is maintained, and a sufficient supply of water directed to the 
canal, Avhile the large proportion of the Avater passes over the low dam and is wasted 
on the falls. 

"The canal is excavated along the shore 350 feet to a point opposite the brink of 
the faU, of a AAidth narrowing from 80 feet to 55, and below this point 500 feet further 
of a uniform Avidth of 55 feet, and carrying a depth of 14 feet of water. 

"The improvements of th<^ St. Anthony Falls Water Power Company consist of a 
dam from the east shore to Hennepin Island, 400 feet up the shoi'e of Hennepin Is- 
land, 650 feet from head of Island, Avest 200 feet, thence diagonally to the dam of the 
Minneapolis Mill Company, 600 feet; total length of dam, 1,850 feet. The company 
has sold eight saAV mill sites on the dam in the east channel, which, together Avith 
three Houring mills, and several other manufactories, renting power for manufactur- 
ing purposes, utilize about 1,300 horse poAver, under varying heads. The Avhole 
Avater faU on the comi^any's land is 69 feet. " 

The last named comjiany recently sold its propert}' and franchises to the St. Paul, 
Minneapolis & Manitoba Eaihvay Company, and extensive improvements are in 
progress, with a view to make the poAver available, as well as to secure room for rail- 
road purjioses along the east side of the river. 

Considerable improvements have been made during the past Avinter on the 
canals of the Mill Company on the west side of the falls, and on tlie platform occu- 
pied by the saAv mills. 



52 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 




MlNNKAPtiLIS II, UH hCHOtiL BUU^DINO 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 



53 




THE PLATFOBM. 

The natui'al inequalities of 
the grounds about the falls on 
the "west side of the river were 
not, apparently, such as to make 
uhe place adapted to use as mill 
sites. But the pioneer Imnber- 
uien did not aUow such trifles to 
deter them from making im- 
provements, and a vast frame- 
work of huge logs and timbers 
was constnicted, near and upon 
which seven saw-mills were 
built, where the daily product 
of lumber amounts to nearly a 
miUion feet. Here may be seen 
the wonderful power this Father 
of Waters exerts for the benefit 
City Market House, Minneapolis. ^f tl^e States of the New North- 

west. These mills, situated at the foot of the dams, receive the logs from the water 
at one side of the building, and transform them into lumber, lath and shingles, 
which are loaded on wagons on the other side, to be tjl<i n tn tlu' storage yards. 
The same stream that floats the logs to the ^•-' " ^i^E»^x 

mills, passes through the canals beneath them 
and fui'nishes the motive power for di'iving the 
saws, wliich eat their way through over a hun- 
dred million feet of logs each year. 

The best view of the apron is to be had 
from the outer edge of the platfonn. It is some- 
Avhat difficult to get to dm-ing week days, on 
account of the number of teams constantly at 
work, but any one vnU be weU repaid for the 
trouble of making their way to it. It is visited 
on Sundays by hundi-eds of our citizens, who 
never tire of the view of the wildly rushing 
water and numberless beautiful cascades to be 
seen below. 

THE WATER WOEKS. 

Near the west end of the platform is the 
City "Water Works buikling, owned and operated 
by the city. It was built in 1876, and the Holly 
system put in operation. New and larger pimips 
have since been put in, the present capacity 
being 20,000,000 gallons of water per day. The 
motive power for operating the pumj^s is de- 
rived from the same soiu'ce as the water we 
drink — the Mississippi river. There is no 
resei-voir in the city, the water being forced di- 
rectly through the mains in all parts of the city, 
the pressure being increased at every alai-m of 
fire. One engine is kept constantly going, the 
other being held in reserve for emergencies. ]:];ii.AL \ eil i ali 




54 Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 

THE FLOURING MILLS. 

No one can pass through the milling district of Minneapolis without being im- 
pressed with the grandeur of its mills. Built closely together, some of them tower- 
ing to a height of nine stories, and mostly of stone or brick, they have an appear- 
ance of strength and soUdity not exhibited by buildings used for other puri^oses. 
The hurry and bustle of numberless men and teams, and the movement of cars on 
the elevated railways, loading and unloading gi-ain or flour at the doors of the mills, 
the miu'miu' of machinery and roar of the falls, all tend to add to the impressiveness 
of a scene unequalled in the world. The flouring mills here are twenty-seven in 
number, all deriving their power from a common soui'ce, and manufacturing over two 
millions of barrels of floiu' a year, besides about seventy thousand tons of bran. 

Wo give place to the following extracts pertaining to this subject from Secretary 
Sturtevant's last report to the Board of Trade: 

"In the early days of milling in Minneapolis, medium sized mills were considered the sate- , 
and, as a rule, the most profitable, but the whole system is changed. Then this market was limited 
to a comparatively small territory, and the production of wheat was not large enough to render a 
supply at all times certain. Now, however, with America and all Europe for a market, and wth 
single orders for from 10,000 to 15,000 barrels of flour, millers find it necessary, to secure the best 
trade, that they shall control a large manufacturing capacity in order that they may be able to fill 
large orders promptly and to secure uniformity of quality, which is an absolute necessity if one 
would hold the foreign or the best Americam trade. Moreover, there is economy both in the con- 
struction and operation of a large mill over a small one. The cost of a mill with a capacity for 4,000 
barrels daily, is much less than that of sixteen mills of 2.50 barrels capacity, or of eight mills of 500 
barrels capacity, or even of four mills of 1,000 barrels capacity. The relative cost of operating a 
large mill is still less, and the chances for a uniform gi-ade of flour is increased in the same ratio as 
the additional capacity of the mill. Hence the tendency to increase the size and capacity of mills. 

"No city in America has so large a capital invested in milling as Minneapolis. No flour in the 
world stands as high in the markets of Europe and America as that manufactured at Minneapolis, 
unless it be the fancy Hungarian flour, sold largely in England. This, however, is fast giving place 
to the choice Minneapolis fancy. English flour dealers and millers predict that, at an early day, 
American spring wheat fancy flour will take the place of the Hungarian fancy in all English 
markets. 

"Minneapolis mUlers manufactured more flour in 1880 than any other city in America, and wUl 
have a capacity the ensuing year double that of any other city. The three largest mills on the con- 
tinent are located here, and three firms operate mills with a daily capacity of 17,200 barrels." 

The following table gives a list of the mills, their capacity, and by whom owned or operated : 

NAME OP MILL. CAPACITY (BBLS). OWNER OR LESSEE. 

Washburn A • i,200 Washburn, Crosby & Co. 

Washburn B 650 Washburn, Crosby & Co. 

Washburn C 1,650 Washburn, Crosby & Co. 

Pillsbury A 4,000 C. A. Pillsbury & Co. 

Pillsbury B 800 C. A. Pillsbury & Co. 

Anchor 550 C. A. Pillsbury «fe Co. 

Empire 550 C. A. Pillsbury & Co, 

Excelsior 600 C. A. Pillsbury <fe Co. 

Crown Eoller 3,000 Christian Bros. «fc Co. 

Pettit 1,200 J. A. Christian & Co. 

Standard 1,000 E. V. White & Co. 

Northwestern 1,000 Sidle, Fletcher & Holmes, 

Galaxy 800 Cahill, Fletcher & Co, 

Cataract 550 D. R. Barber & Son, 

Minneapolis 450 Crocker, Fisk & Co. 

Humboldt 600 Hinkle, Greenleaf «fe Co. 

Hollv 225 Hinkle Bros. 

Dakota 250 H. F. Brown & Co. 

Model 250 Russell, Hineline & Co. 

North Star 500 J. C. A. CrosweU, 

Phoenix 300 Stamwitz & Schober. 

Union 225 G. W. Goodrich & Co. 

Zenith 600 Day, Rollins & Co, 

Trade Steam 100 Hawthorne Bros. 

Palisade 500 Leonard Day A Co. 

Eagle Steam 75 Colburn, Christian & Co. 

Arctic 250 Woodbury Fisk, 

Minnetonka 350 Fletcher, Loring«fc Co. 

Total daily capacity . 24,875 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 55 

A FAMOrS GEOUP. 

The NOETHMESTEKN MiLLEK, a loading milling paper published at Minneapolis, 
gives us the following ■well written description of the group of mills illustrated on. 
page 20 : 

That the mighty waterfall, scarcely second to any in the world, which less than thirty years ago 
was free and untrammeled, should be so soon brought under man's control and made the center and 
mainstay of one of the most flourishing manufacturing cities on the Western Continent, is scarcely 
more a matter for wonder than are the group of mills, which are now clustered about its crest, sub- 
jects of admiration. The mills of Minneapolis have made its name famous throughout the civilized 
world, and of the twenty-five massive structures which take into their garners the wheat crop of 
the Northwest and send it forth, immaculate in its snowy whiteness, to the uttermost parts of the 
earth, millions of barrels every year, there are none more widely renowned than the cluster of mills 
which are the subject of this article. To the faith which the owner of these mills had in the possi- 
bilities for development of the Falls of St. Anthony, is due much of the substantial prosperity 
which Minneapolis now enjoys, and that faith needs no better exemplification than the immense 
enterprises which are its outgrowth. 

The name of ex-Gov. C. C. Washburn is most intimately connected with the milling history of 
this city. In 1856 he was one of the original incorporators of the Minneapolis Water Power Com- 
pany, which had for its object the imi^rovement and utilization of the water power on the western 
half of the Falls of St. Anthony. From that time to the present he has always been active in push- 
ing ahead to new and more extensive improvements. The mills which bear his name will be in 
years to come his most fitting monument. It is not our purpose to give a comi^lete description of 
these mills, but will simply give some facts as to capacity, dimensions, etc., which will serve to give 
an idea of their extent, and satisfy the curiosity of our readers. 

The first of the three Washburn mills to be built was what is now known as the "B" mill. It 
was erected in 1866, and then contained eleven run of stones, and was the largest mill at that time 
on the falls. It was in this mill, when operated by Mr. Washburn in company with Mr. Geo. H. 
Christian, that the first experiments in making "new process" flour were made in America, and 
where the first purifier was placed at work. It is 62x94 feet, and six stories high, and was long 
known as the "Big Mill." In 1880 it was shut down for five months and completely overhauled and 
remodeled on the roller system. Its present daily cai>acity is 650 barrels 

. The second Washburn mill was the old mill "A," which was built in 1873-4, and was 100x147 feet,, 
seven stories high, and contained forty run of stones. It was a "new process" mill, and had a capa- 
city of from 1,200 to 1,500 barrels daily. When it was finished it was by far the largest, most com- 
plete and modern in its appointments of any mill in the country, and soon acquired a national 
reputation. It was completely destroyed by the great mill explosion of May 2, 1878, the ruin being: 
so complete that literally there was not one stone left upon another. The next day the site for mill 
"C" was surveyed and the stakes set for the foundations of a mill eijual, if not greater in capacity 
than the one destroyed. 

Washburn mill "C" was built in 1878, and was at first constructed on the new process system. 
It contained about twenty pairs of mill stones, and was very thoroughly erjuipped. Since then it 
has been, by the addition of rollers, etc., made into a roller mill with a capacity of 1,650 barrels per 
day. It is 105x140 feet, six stories high. It was in this mill that Gov. Washburn started his ex- 
perimental roller mill in the winter of 1878-9. 

The last and greatest of the Washburn mills is the mammoth mill "A." It stands on the site of 
the old mill "A," and was built in 1880-81. It is constructed on the most approved plans for roller 
milling. The first half of the mill, started up last summer, had a capacity of about 1,500 barrels- 
per day. The other half of the mill, the machinery for which is now in position, will bring its capa- 
city up to 3,500 barrels per day, and it is proposed to make the daily capacity of the mill reach tc 
or exceed 4,200 barrels daily. The mill is 100x244 feet, and eight stories high, the area of each floor" 
being 24,400 square feet, or considerably over half an acre. A double railway track runs through the 
mill on a level with the second floor. 

The daily capacity of the three mills will be, when mill "A" is running fully up to its proposed 
capacity, 6,500 barrels per day, requiring about 30,000 bushels of wheat daily. To handle tliis large 
amount it is plain that ample wheat storage is necessary. This is furnished by the elevators con- 
nected with the mills, and by the storage in the mills themselves. The mill "A" elevator is 35x94 
feet, seven stories high, and has a storage capacity of 82,ooo bushels. The cleaning machinery for 
mill "A" is in the building, and has a capacity for cleaning 900 bushels per hour. When cleaned the 
wheat is carried into subterranean bins in mill "A," which can hold 68,000 bushels of clean wheat. 
Mill "B" has storage room for 40,000 bushels, while mill "C" in its subterranean bins can stow away 
an equal amount. The mill "C" elevator is 50x48 feet, six stories high, and has storage room for 
78,000 bushels, and cleaning capacity of 500 bushels per hour. The combined storage capacity of the 



56 Minneapolis and its Subiojrbs. 

mills and elevators is 308,000 ))ushels, or enoush for a ten days' run. In 1880 the three mills turned 
out 610,000 barrels of flour, although mill "A" was not started up until aloni? in the summer, and 
•mill "B" was shut down for changina: to the roller system for about five months. 

Three hundred men are employed in and about these mills. In the three mills 231 pairs of 
rollers are in operation, and thirty-five run of buhrs Tlie mills are ovraied by C. C. Washburn, and 
operated by Washburn, Crosby & Co., the firm beinir composed of C. C. Washburn, John Crosby, 
Wm. H. Dunwoody, and Chas. J. Martin. 

THE (KOWN KOIjLER MILL. 

The following (lescriptions of tlie "CroAvu EoUer Mill" find "Standard Mill," are 
^Iso from the Northwestern Miller: 

Minneapolis has long been tnown as the "City of Mills," and its cluster of mills, so near to- 
•gether tliat a person standing in the center is almost within stone's throw of the farthest one, con- 
tains more than one which in size, capacity and perfection of equipment has been the wonder of the 

many visitors who throng the "platform." Of this cluster of mills the "Crown Roller," although 
■exceeded in size by one other, is the most conspicuous and the first to claim the attention of the in- 
coming stranger. This proud prominence it enjoys no less from its immense size than from its com- 
manding position on the highest ground around the fallr,. The building itself is so immense that 
the illustration of it on page forty-five fails to convey any adequate conception of its size. It is 
situated at the corner of First Street and Fifth Avenue South, and fronts 121: feet on First Street, 
and 14.5 feet on Fifth Avenue. The foundation and basement walls are of native blue limestone, 
iesting on the solid limestone ledge which forms the crest of the falls of St. Anthony. Above these 
«nduring foundations tlie massive walls of cream-colored lirick rise to a height of about seventy- 
five feet, and tlie whole is surmounted by a mansard roof, which forms the sixth or attic story of 
the mill, and makes the total heiiiht of the building over one hundred feet from the ground. Some 
idea of its magnitude may be gained when It is known that over two million brick were used in its 
construction, and that in its interior over a million and a half feet of lumber have been u.sed. 
Work on the foundations was begun early in April, 1879. The capacity of this mill is now 3,000 bar- 
rels per day. 

Enclosed in the same walls, on the west side of the mill, is the elevator. It is separated from 
the mill proper by a brick wall which rises above the roof, and through which there is only one 
opening into the mill. The peculiarity of the elevator is that the wheat is stored in circular iron 
bins. There are thirty of these bins, each seven and one-half feet in diameter and sixty feet deep. 
The .space between the bins, which are placed close together, is also used for storage bins. The 
total capacity for the elevator is 98,000 bushels. 

The mill is owned by Messrs. John A. and Lewellyn Christian and Mr. Charles M. Hardenberg. 
Mr. C. E. French is associated with them in operating the mill, the firm name being Christian Bros. 

■ •& Co. Messrs. J. A. <fc L. Christian formerly operated, the old Washburn A mill, and have been 
prominently identified with the milling interest of Minneapolis since the introduction of the new 
process. This mill, as constructed, embodies the results :f their long experience, and is worked on 

.the gradual reduction or high-grinding system, improved and perfected as far as American ingenu- 
ity has yet been able to go. 

THE STANDARD MILL, 

The mill building proper fronts on Sixth Avenue South, between First and Second Streets, and 
is 55x11.5 on the ground, and including the basement, is six stories high. Adjoining the rear end of 
'.the mill and rising to the same height, and under the same roof, but separated from it by a brick 
Jire wall, is an elevator 40x55 feet. The whole building, as shown in the illustration on page forty, is 
55 feet Made and 155 feet long. The mill contains twenty runs of four and one-half feet French 
buhrs, and twenty-six pairs of rolls. There is plenty of room and power to add more rolls, and as 
last as their superiority Is fully established, they will, without doubt, be added. 

It is not possible. In the sjiace we have at our command, to enter fully into a minute description 
of the machinery of the mill, or to trace the course of the wheat from the storage bins in the eleva- 
tor to the flour in the barrel, but we will give a concise descrliition of the general plan and arrange- 
ment of the mill. Beginning with the elevator we find that the wheat, after being weighed in, is 
elevated by a storage elevator and distributed into the bins, nine in number, having an aggregate 
storage capacity of 35,000 bushels. As used, the wheat is drawn from these bins, elevated to the fifth 
floor, where it is discharged into a grading reel, which separates it into two grades. These two 
fixades are cleaned separately, each grade having its own set of cleaning machinery. 

On the fourth floor of the elevator are two Richmond separators, through which the wheat 
passes from the grading reel. It then goes through two cockle separating machines on the third 
floor, two Richmond brush machines on the second floor, and two more Richmond brush machine.^ 
on the first floor, after which i^- uasses down into the basement, through the Victor wlieat heaters, 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 5T 

and there the coarse and fine trrades are each cruslied scj)aratcly on a set of 14x;?6 inch smooth 
cliillcd iron rollers, there Ijcing one set of rolls for each frrade. In the basement, or rather below itj. 
is the wheel pit, in which is a 44-iuch Victor tnrlvine wheel, wliich drives the mill, working under a 
bead of thirty-three to thirty-tive feet. The basement also contains the main Hearing to drive the 
mill. In the basement of the mill iiroper are twenty iron husk frames, placed in two parallel lines 
of ten each, and resting on substantial brick and stone foundations. Tlie basement is floored witli 
cement, and we may also say for the benefit of those of our readers who are strict temperance men 
(and what millers are not?) that it contains a living spring of pure, cold water, where he that is 
athirst may refresh himself. 

The first floor above the basement is the grinding floor, and it is withoiit doubt one of the clean- 
est, lightest and best arranged in this country. Entering it from the street, in the front left-hand 
corner is the oflice. Stepping from the oftice into the grinding room, tlie visitor finds himself at the 
end of the two parallel lines of mill stones, each line consisting of ten run. One line is on the north 
side of the mill, and the other occupies the center of the floor. Eight back of the center line of 
stones is a double line of Gray's patent noiseless belt roller mills. At present there are twelve of 
these mills in position, each mill having two pairs of '.>.xl8 inch chilled iron rolls. There is room for 
ten more of these machines in the same double line. 

The next floor is the packing flo(n-, containing five Eureka flour packers and one bran packer. 
Here are also the stock garners and middlings bins over the roller mills and the mill stones. The 
conveyors are all hung to the joists overhead, so that the floor is free from obstructions. This floor 
is on a level with the floor of the cars standing on the elevated track of the Minneapolis & St. Louis 
Railroad, shown in the cut, so that the flour can be rolled directly into the cars. The Chicago, Mil- 
waukee «fc St. Paul road also have a side track on the south side of the mill, and the packing floor iis- 
so arranged that cars can be loaded with flour or bran on either track with the least pos.sible labor. 

On the third floor of the mill are located ten "Standard" purifiers. The bolting chests ...Iso be- 
giii on this floor, and in this story are twenty reels, each nineteen feefc long. On the north side of 
the room is the dust room for the ten purifiers, and on the south side are the flour bins over the 
packers. On this floor are also two aspirators and two bran dusters, and the bins for bran and 
shorts. The fourtii floor also contains ten "Standard" purifiers, dust room for same, and the upiser 
half of the bolting chests containing twenty nineteen feet reels and two Richmond bran dusters. 

The fifth floor, or attic, is one-half the width of the mill building, and contains the gearing,- 
shafts, etc., to drive the elevator and bolting chests, and lour twenty-four feet and foiu' eighteen 
feet reels. 

The mill property, including the land upon which it stands, and the water privileges, which be- 
long ■with the lot, represents an invested capital of nearly or quite $'2(io,uOO, and is owned and oper- 
ated by Messrs. E. V. "White and D. Morrison, under the firm name of E. V. White & Co. It has a 
capacity of 1,000 to 1,200 barrels a day. (See illustration on page 38.) 

PILLSBXTEY "a" mill. 

This new mill is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi river, at the corner of Main Stree*'- 
and Third Avenue, East Division, and being seven stories high, symmetrically projtortioned, and 
built of blue limestone, presents a massive and commanding appearance. Its dimensions are 
175x115 feet, and when completed will be capable of making 4,000 barrels of flour per day. In ex- 
planation ip may be here remarked that there will be two entirely separate mills under one roof, each 
of which can be operated independently of the other. Each side is to be an exact duplicate of the 
other. 

The front side of the mill, which faces Main street and the river, is the one on which will be no- 
ticed the words "Pillsbury A." It is along here, commencing a block above, that the East Side 
Water Power Company have constructed their main canal, sixteen feet wide and about thirty-two 
feet deep, which conveys the water from the river to the mill. The inlet by which the water passes 
from the canal to the wheel is in the shape of a large arch directly in the center of the Ijaseraent 
wall. Power is furnished by two fifty-five inch Victor water wheels, under a working head of forty- 
five feet. 

Running across the center of the basement is the main line shafting, 144 feet long, which takes- 
power from the water wheels by means of two forty-eight incii leather belts, each 120 feet long. 
This shaft rests on heavy stone and brick piers that reach down to the ledge, two of its pulleys 
weighing 13,000 pounds each. Located in the basement, and running through to the top of the next 
p*^ory, is a large wheat bin with a capacity of 5o,ooo bushels. 

Ascending one story we find ourselves on the grinding floor, the one-half of which is wholly 
taken up by 100 double roller mills, arranged in six lines — two rows of ten each and four of twenty 
each — and ten run of millstones. The stones are arranged in one line near the center of the upper 
end of the mill, and will be elegantly fitted up, the wood work about the top of the husk frame 
being ot walnut and ash. 



©8 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 




Ptllsbuey "A" Mill. 

Going up another story we come to the packing floor, where, arranged in a line at the back side, 
are ten packers — eight for flour and two for bran. The remaining space, excepting twenty feet at 
the lower end, is reserved wholly for storing and handling tlie flour after being packed. A little be- 
low the level of this floor, on both sides, are railroad tracks, giving facilities for shipping flour and 
receiving wheat. The twenty feet above mentioned contains the wheat cleaning machinery. 

On the third floor the bolting chests commence, and reach up through the four stories to the 
attic. They are arranged in one row of eight double and four single chests, and on three of the 
floors they contain forty fourteen-foot reels. Running parallel with the bolting chests is a row of 
twenty-three purifiers, and, like the chests, a similar arrangement of them is carcied out through all 
the four stories. Back of the purifiers are the cylindrical boiler iron flour pacls^r bins, measuring 
thirty-two feet high and six feet in diameter. In the wheat cleaning department of this floor are 
lour brush machines, two Kurth cockle separators, and four bran dusters. The only difference be- 
tween the third, fourth and fifth stories is in the arrangement of the cleaning macliinery. On the 
fourth there are in the regular department four brush machines and four separators, while in the 
space between the bolting chests are four bran dusters and two centrifugal flour dressing machines. 
On the fifth floor this class of machinery consists of two centrifugal flour dressers and four bran 
dusters between the bolting reels, and in the regular department four scourers and four brush ma- 
chines. In the sixth and last floor excepting the attic, the bolting chests are not as large as below, 
containing only twenty-two instead of forty reels. 

Thus finishes a partial description of what will be one of the most complete mills in the world. 
To take a trip through it one cannot help but be impressed with the simplicity and nicety of ar- 
rangement of all its details. Everything has been placed just where it is most convenient, does the 
most good, and effects the gi'eatest economy of room. The wood work is exceptionally fine, and is 
claimed to excel anything In the city or elsewhere. 

Its precautionary measures against fire are most perfect. Foiu- large "risers" run from bottom 
to top of the building, and to them on each floor will be attached 100 feet of hose, while each floor is 
provided with four fire extinguishers. The building is heated by steam, generated by two large 
steel boilers, located in the basement of an addition 25y46 feet, at the lower end of the miU. A large 
passenirer elevator is ..^ the center of the mill, running from the first to the topmost story. Around 
tlie elevator shaft is an iron winding stairway. 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 59 

For handling the great amount of wheat that will be required Tjy their mills, the firm have built 
a 200,000 bushel elevator on the line of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & IManitoba railroad, but a short 
distance from the mill. 

The plans and macliinery for the mill have all been furnished by Minneapolis establishmonts, 
and the gentlemen superintending its construction are resident business men. 

The proprietors, Messrs. C. A. Pillsbury <fc Co., have a reputation as millers equal to that of Gov. 
Washburn and the Christians, and when the A mill is completed, they will be able to turn out with 
their five mills— the Anchor, Empire, old Pillsbury, Excelsior and Pillsbury A— 0,000 barrels of flour 
per day. The members of the firm are George A., Gov. J. S., Fred, and C. A. Pillsbury. When the 
mill is completed its cost will come close to half a million dollars. The building, the walls of which 
are seven feet at the base and taper to two feet at the top, with heating apparatus, alone cost $125,000. 

ANCHOR MILL,. 

This mill has a capacity of GOO barrels per day, and is operated by C. A. Pillsbury & Co. The 
building is of limestone, seven stories in height, including basement, and is 50x75 feet in size. It 
was among the first to be changed to the roller system. It has thirty-six rolls and four run of 
stone. The power Is furnished by an American water wheel, under a thirty to thirty-three feet 
head. It has a very complete outfit, mainly consisting of twenty-eight purifiers, thirty-five reels, 
separators, scourers, etc. 

CATARACT MILL. 

This is the oldest mill on the falls. It was built in 1858, by Eastman & Gibson, and was the first 
mQl, except the old Government mill, to be i)ut in operation on the west side of the falls. The mill 
proper is 65x44 feet, five stories high, including the basement, and is constructed of the blue lime- 
stone common to this city. Adjoining it on the river side is a fireproof elevator, with a storage capa- 
city of 20,000 bushels. In the upper part of the elevator is a receiving separator, through which the 
wheat passes as it comes from the cars, and is then distributed to the respective bins. The Cataract 
has a capacity of 600 barrels per day. It is owned and operated by D. R. Barber & Son. It is located 
on the river front below the platform, and the elevated railways give it shipping and receiving 
facilities. 

EMPIRE MILL. 

The Empire is operated by C. A. Pillsbury & Co., and has a capacity for 600 barrels per day. Its 
storage capacity is 4000 bushels. The building is of limestone, 70x70 feet, four stories and basement. 
Five run of stone and thirty-three sets of rolls are iu the mill. 

EXCELSIOR MILL. 

This mill is one of the Pillsbury series. It is of limestone, 45x100, six stories and basement, 
containing forty-five sets of rolls and two run of stone. The machinery is run by a 350 horse power 
Victor wheel, under a head of thirty-three feet. 

GALAXY MILL. 

The Galaxy is operated by Messrs. Cahill, Fletcher & Co., and has a capacity of 7.50 barrels per 
day. It contains fifty-two sets of rolls and six run of stone, twenty-one purifiers, thirty-five reels. 
The cost of changes and improvements during the last year amounted to $25,000. 

HOLLY MILL. 

The Holly Mill is third in the row of flouring mills on the river front. It is five stories high be- 
sides basement, built of blue limestone, and is about forty feet wide by sixty feet long. Its ma- 
chinery, an addition to which was made the past winter by introducing the roller system, consists 
substantially of twelve set of rolls, nine purifiers, three run of stone — one of which is a pony, and 
the usual amount of cleaning machinery, bolting apparatus, etc. The Holly is owned and operated 
by Messrs. F. S. and W. H. Hinkle, under the firm name of Hinkle Bros. 

MINNEAPOLIS MILL. ^ 

Operated by Messrs. Crocker, Fisk & Co., has a capacity of 4.50 barrels. It contains twenty-two 
sets of rolls and seven run of stone. The building is of stone, four stories and basement, 60x00 on 
the ground. It has a storage capacity of 10,000 bushels of wheat. 

MINNETONKA MILLS. 

While this mill is located on Minnetonka creek, is is owned and operated by Minneapolis men — 
Messrs. Fletcher, Loring & Co.,— and properly comes into the list of Minneapolis Mills. It has a 
capacity of 350 barrels per day. 



60 Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 

MODEL MILL. 

Located near the Crown Roller, is the Model Mill, owned by Russell, Hineline & Co. It has a 
capacity of 250 barrels per day, about one-fourth of the product being exported. It is a roller mill, 
with ten sets of rolls, and three run of buhrs. The mill is of stone and brick, 4'2x(V2 feet, four stories 
hieh. It has a storage capacity of 3000 bushels in the mill, and in equipment and product ranks 
with the best mills in the city. The gentlemen composing the firm are R. P. Russell, Geo. Hineline, 
and J. W. Rootes. 

NOBTHWESTEEN MILL. 

The Northwestern is a comparatively new mill, having been built in 1879-80, and ranks among 
our best and largest ones. It is situated near the center of that massive row of mills on the river's 
brink on the West Side, and is one of the most commanding in appearance of the row. It is biult 
of lime stone, is 55x106 feet, seven stories high, and has a daily capacity of about a thousand bar- 
rels. The proprietors, Messrs. Sidle, Fletcher, Holmes & Co., will very soon materially add to its 
complement of machinery, raising the capacity to twelve hundred barrels. 

OLD PILLSBUEY, OB "PILLSBtJBY B" MILL, 

Is one of the five mills operated by Messrs. C. A. Pillsbury & Co., and h3,s just been completed from 
a most thorough overhauling. Nothing save the walls were left in the renovation, and in conse- 
quence it may now be classed among the most complete of roller mills. Including basement it is 
six stories high, 60x65 on the ground, and by the late improvements will be enabled to turn out 800 
barrels daily. Its total number of rolls is fifty- eight, of which twenty-four set are corrugated and 
twelve smooth. By the overhauling all but four run of buhrs were thrown out. The remainder of 
the machinery consists substantially of thirty purifiers, two scratched rolls for grinding low grade 
of flour, a full line of cleaning machinery and two centrifugal flour dressing machines, besides a 
complete bolting system. The motive power is furnished by a 44-inch Victor water wheel. The mill 
is built of blue lime stone and is located about the middle of the row of mills on the river bank be- 
tween Sixth and Seventh Avenues South. 

PALISADE MILL. 

Operated by Leonard, Day & Co. The building is of blue limestone, 65x85 feet, five stories, and 
contains twelve run of stone and twenty-three sets of rolls, with a complete outflt of machinery 
throughout. Power is transmitted from two wheels of thirty and thirty-five inch size, under a head 
of fifty feet. The Palisade retained its buhrs when making a change to the roller system, and the 
estimate of its capacity, 500 barrels, is considered lower than that given by other mills of equal 
machinery. 

PETTIT MILL. 

The Pettit mill has just lately been changed to the roller system, and its capacity is estimated at 
from 1,000 to 1,200 barrels per day. The building is of blue limestone, 60x100 feet, five stories high. 
It employs thirty-five men, of which seven are regular millers. The power is furnished by a Swain 
water wheel of 350 horse power, with a head of fortv feet. The mill is operated by J. A. Christian 
.feCo. 

PHOENIX MILLS. 

This establishment is located on the east side of the river, and is O'mied and operated by Messrs. 
Stamwitz 6z Shober. An addition of 26x50 feet, four stories in height, has been added to its former 
size during the past year. The present capacity is 250 barrels of flour per day. It has twelve sets 
of rolls and three run of stone, with a full line of other machinery necessary to make the manufac- 
ture of flour by the roller system complete. 

TBADE STEAM MILL. 

Is located on Second Street near First Avenue South, and is operated by Hawthorne Bros., as a 
custom mill. It has a capacity of about 100 barrels per day. 

I'NION MILL. 

Is operated by Goodrich & Co., and has a capacity of 230 to 250 barrels per day. It is 40x80 feet, 
four stories and basement. Operates on the New Process — not roller system— and has six run of 
stones and five sets of smooth rolls. 

ZENITH MILL. 

The Zenith, operated by Day, Rollins <Sz Co., is 40x102 feet, six stories above the basement, built 
of stone. It has five run of stones and twenty-two sets of rolls, giving it a capacity for 600 barrels 
per day, and a perfect outfit of separating and cleaning machinery. It has storage for 12,000 bushels 
of wheat, and is operated by a 48-inch American wheel. 



Minneapolis and its Subxaxbs. 



61 




City Hall Building, Minneapolis. 



Random Sketches of Past and Present. 



In 1837 tlie first "claim shanty" above tlie St. Croix Avas built. It was located op- 
posite St. Anthony Falls, on the east side of the Mississippi, and l)elonged to Mr. 
Franklin Steele, who Lived to see his wilderness home transformed into a beautiful 
and thriving city, of which he was a citizen until 1880, when he passed away sud- 
denly, full of years and honored by all. 

Mr. Steele bought the town site of St. Anthony and "Boom island" for $500 from 
the original claimants, securing the title from the government subsequently by entry 
and purchase at the regular price. 

In 1848 there were but four houses in St. Anthony village, one of which was occu- 
pied by Mr. R. P. Piussell as a store. A saw mill with two saws Avas started in the fall 
of 1848. Mr. Russell is still an honored resident of the city. 

In 1849 the St. Charles Hotel was built by Mr. Anson Nortliup, and Mr. Steele 
sold a half interest in his village property to Mr. A. W. Taylor, of Boston, for $20,000, 
Avhich he bought back three 3'ears later for $25,000. 

In 1851 the Minnesota University was located here by act of the territorial legisla- 
ture, but the building Avas not ready for occupation iintil 18G7, when it was opened as 
a preparatory school, and the first commencement held in LS73. 



62 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 



The first bridge to span the Mississippi river was built iu 1854, being the old sus- 
pension bridge, which occupied nearly the same i^osition as the present structure. 
Two steamers were also built aboitt the same time to run above the falls. 

In 1855 the population of St. Anthony was three thousand. 

Minneapolis was named by Mr. George D. Bowman, editor of the St. Anthony 
Exi^ress, having been appointed a committee for the purpose by the citizens, who 
were unable to agree upon a name, and by constant use of the name in his paper, 
finally established it. Col. Stevens says "it is allowed on all hands to be a beautiful 
combination of the native Sioux and classic Greek." "Minne" is Sioux for water, 
and "polls" Greek for city. 

The first house in Minneapolis was built by Col. John H. Stevens, iu 181:9-50, the 
only other buildings on the west side of the falls being the old government mill and 
miU house, which have long since passed out of sight. Mr. C. A. Tiittle followed. 
The land being part of the military reserve, the settlers occupied their claims by per- 
mit from the government until 1852, when it was opened to settlers by act of con- 
gress, and in 1855 the right of pre-emption was granted. Col. Stevens still haunts 
the busy places of the metropolis, and may be found at his editorial post on the 
Farmers Union in the City Hall, ready to tell of the wondrous products of his farm. 

The first session for the United States District Court for the Territory of Minne- 
sota west of the Mississippi river, was held in the government mill at Minneapolis, 
by Judge Meeker. 

In 1856 the water-power companies were chartered and organized. 

The first flouring mill on the West Side was built in 1858. 
In 1872 the villages of St. Anthony Falls and Minneapolis were consolidated, and 
became the City of Minneapolis. 

May 3d, 1878, occurred the great explosion and fire, which destroyed five of the 
largest flouring mills. 




Suspension Bridge, Minneapolis. 
A synopsis of the Minneapolis Board of Trade Keport for 1881), will afford some 
idea of the status of business at the present time: 

Sixteen railways lead from Minneapolis to various points in the Northwest, and sixty-five pas- 
senger trains arrive and depart daily. The companies operating these roads are as follows: 

The Minneapolis it St. Louis Railway to St. Louis via Albert Lea and Burlington; to Duluth, 
Stillwater, and Taylors Falls ; and to Fort Dodge, Iowa. 

The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, river division, to Chicago; Iowa Division; Hastings & Da- 
kota Division ; and Minneapolis & St. Paul Short Line, running twelve trains daily each way be- 
tween Minneapolis and St. Paul. 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 



63 



The Cliicairo, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Line; Eastern Divi.sion to Chicago; Western Divi- 
sion to Omaha; and Northern Division to Northern Wisconsin. 

St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba, operatins lines: North to Winnipe;,', west to Breckenriclse, 
and branches to Osseo and Upper Lake Minnctonka. This company also operates a passenger line 
running eleven trains a day each way between Minneapolis ife St. Paul. 

Northern Pacific to Dakota and the Far West, and to Duluth. 

St. Paul & Duluth to Lake Superior. 

The Minneapolis, Lake Calhoun it Lake Minnetonka Railway, to Lakes Calhoun, Harriet and 
Minnetonka. 

These companies have built new railways in the territory triljutary to Minneapolis, a total of 
1,635 miles, divided as follows : 

Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 442 miles. 

Northwestern 350 '• 

Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha 247 " 

St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba 222 " 

Northern Pacific 217 " 

Minneapolis & St. Louis 129 " 

St. Paul& Duluth 28 " 



1,635 



Receipts and shipments l)y rail during 1880, give the following totals : 



Receipts, cars, 56,823 

Shipments, cars, 58,439 

This is divided as follows : 



Receipts of merchandise 13,745 cars. 

Shipments " 11,107 " 

Receipts of wheat 10,914,100 bushels. 

Shipments " 133,600 " 

Receipts of corn 590,400 " 

Shipments " 310,300 " 

Receipts of oats 274,300 " 



Shipments of oats 58,800 bushels. 

Receipts of flour 103,000 barrels. 

Slupments " 2,051,840 

Receipts of mill-stuil 

Shipments " 65,590 

Receipts of lumber 20,400,000 

Shipments " 164,620,000 



8,868 tons. 



feet. 



Of miscellaneous articles received during the year, there were of barley, 113,200 bus. ; flax seed, 
143,500 bus. ; pig iron, 5,980 tons ; live-stock, 24,380 head; brick, 2,250,000; wood, 20,130 cords; coal, 
52,840 tons; barrel stock, 2,021 car loads; lime, 84,300 barrels; cement, 18,200 baixels. 

These figures represent actual receipts and shipments, and do not include merchandise in tran- 
sit through the city for other points. 

The aggregate of the wholesale trade of the city is given at $24,299,200, including in the table the 
following lines of goods : Groceries, staple and fancy, including fruits ; dry goods, clothing, hats 
and caps; wines, liquors and cigars; queensware, drugs and oils; hardware, stoves, etc. ; boots, 
shoes, leather and hides ; crackers, confectionery, etc. ; paper and stationery ; agricultural imple- 
ments of all kinds ; furniture, carpets, etc. ; produce commission. 

An estimate of the value of the retail trade places the total at $18,000,000, and covers the trans- 
actions of over four hundred firms. 

MANUFACTTJKES. 



Flour, 2,148,840 barrels: lumber, 195,452,182 feet; shingles, 67,058,500; lath, 31,432,300. The stock 
on hand January 1, 1881, was as follows: Lumber, 93,127,371 feet; lath, 21,996,000; shingles, 13,546,250. 
Miscellaneous manufactures during the year : 



Iron works, farm machinery, carriages 

and wagons $3,560,000 

Furniture and kindred aoods 520,000 

Builders' goods of all classes 1,173,000 

510,000 
725,000 
710,000 
421,000 
311,000 



Woolen, cotton and knit goods 

Clothing and furnishing goods 

Boots, shoes, harness and trunks 

Crackers, candies and cigars 

Linseed, and other oils and chemicals. 



Cooperage of all kinds 

Soap 

Brown paper, etc 

Brewers and vinegar rectifiers. 
Brick and manufactured stone. 
Printers and book-binders 



851,000 
410,000 
287,000 
260,000 
275,0tJ0 
320,000 



Total $10,333,000 



Number of men employed in manufactories, 7,250. 



64 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 




Harvesting Ice in Winter at Minneapolis. 




Winter Scene at St. Anthony Falls. 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 65 

BVILDlNf; STATISTICS. 

Twenty-six (2(j) buniness Ijlocks, containinir forty-three stores $207,000 

Eleven frame stores 1G,'JOO 

Two elevators To,00t) 

Expended upon three flouriiii,' mills 970,000 

Other mill improvements CO, 000 

Manufacturing buildings 1;JO,GOO 

Four school buUdinss 38,000 

Expended on four church build iniis 02,000 

County jail building 00,000 

Four railroad buildings 2G,000 

Street car and other public stables 27,000 

Four hundred and seventy-three residences, costing more t ban $1,000 each 880,200 

Other residences, not included, and estimated at eighty, at an average cost of $800 04,000 

Total $2,092,700 

LIVE STOCK. 
Total value of live stock, including pork-packing, as follows; 

Pork-packing and hogs $425,000 

Cattle, sheep, etc 1,2.55,0<J0 

Horses and mules 080,000 

Total $2,:JOO,ooo 

CITY FINANCES. 

Value of real and personal property owned by the city $1,290,039 08 

Value of school buildings and property 392,011 9o 

Total $1,083,251 61 

Bonded debt of the city , 1,101,000 00 

Bonded school debt 90,500 00 

Total debt $1,107,500 oo 

No floating debt. 

Assessed value (about two-thirds) of real and personal property in 1S80 $28,013,315 00 

Rate of tax levy for 1879-80, 10.1 mills. 

BANKING HOt'SES. 

The banking bu.siness of Minneapolis represents a capital stock of about two and three-quarter 
millions of dollars. A clearing house has been in operation since the beginning of the year 1881, 
through which the banks transact business. The list comjirises the following banks: Bank of 
Minneapolis; Bank of Valentine G. Hush; Citizens Bank; Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank; 
First National Bank; Hennepin County Savings Bank; Northwestern National Bank; Security 
Bank of Minnesota. 

riEE DEPARTMENT. 

There is a paid department of sixty-nine men; two steam fire engines, five 2-horse hose carri- 
ages, one 1-horse hose carriage, two hook and ladder trucks, one chemical apparatus and hook and 
ladder truck. The department ranks well with those of leading cities Ih the country. 

STREET RAILWAY. 

There are five lines of street railway, with thirteen miles of track. 

NEWSPAPERS. 
Daily— Tribune, morning ; Journal, evening; Herald, evening ; Hotel Gazette. Weekly— North- 
western Miller; Tribune and Farmers Union; Lumberman; Spectator; Minneapolis Weekly; Tem- 
perance Advocate ; Tourist and Sportsman ; Budstikken (Norwegian) ; Staats Tidning (Swedish) ; 
Freie Press (German). Monthly— The Housekeeper; Minnesota Homestead; Real Estate Journal. 

THE ICE CROP. 

Here the records are at fault, and eveu the Secretary of the Board of Trade has 
not dared to attempt an estimate of the "last returns. " It is too vast and illimitable 
a field for even the average inquisitive Yankee to explore, and we have had to bring 
our engraver to the front to show how the crop looks in the "shock." It makes an 
ent-icing looking picture, especially about July. There wa.s cut last winter 39500 tons. 



66 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 




Minneapolis ana I'ts Suburbs. 



67 




THE ITNIVEKSITY OP MINNESOTA. 



EDUCATIONAL. 



The educational advantages furnished by Minneapolis have been an important 
factor in its growth, and our people have good reason to be proud of their progress in 
this as well as in other matters. Our school system ranks with that of many of the 
leading cities of the land, and the facilities thus offered for securing a good educa- 
tion, as weU as the location of the University of Minnesota and other important in- 
stitutions of a like character within its limits, has formed a great inducement for 
families to locate here. The school buildings are aU large and conveniently ar- 
ranged. There are sixteen public school buildings, including the High school, 
which is a handsome stone structure, costing about $100,000. The pupils number 
nearly 6,000, teachers 128, and the valuation of school property is estimated at nearly 
half a million dollars. The graded system is estabhshed, and gi-aduates of the High 
school are prepared to enter the State University or for a course in coUege. 

This institution was located on the east bank of the Mississippi, below St. 
Anthony FaUs, by virtue of a law of the teiTitorial legislature, passed in 1851, and the 
main building was completed in 1867, when the institution went into opei-ation as a 
preparatory department. It has an endowment of public lands, which may yield a 
fund of a miUion dollars. The University includes, besides the usual Uterary depart- 
ments, the Colleges of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, the former having already its 
separate buildings. 

The main University is 90x186 feet in size, and four stories in height, with tower. 
It contains fifty-four rooms, of which one is an assembly hall, 60x90 feet, twenty-four 
feet high ; its library possesses 15,000 volumes ; the collections of zoological, techno- 
logical, industrial and other specimens, are large and interesting. 

The work of the University has always been of a high character, the educational 
advantages being such as to prepare the student for the active duties of life, or for 
professional study. Tuition is free for youth of both sexes who can pass examina- 
tion for admission. 



68 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 



Changes recently made in the faculty are confidently expected to raise still 
higher the reputation of the institution for thorough work. The faculty have been 
reinforced by a very competent instructor in elocution. A course in vocal music is 
now given free to all Avho deaire it, by one of the most successful teachers of the west. 

Si^ite of many drawbacks incident to lack of means to do the work pressing upon 
her, the University may claim to be abreast with the leading colleges of the west. 




Ageicultueal College. 

The College of Agriculture occupies a building 54x146, with laboratory, hot 
houses, etc., attached, and is doing a good work in assisting our youth in attaining a 
knowledge of the theory of this important branch of labor. It has had a recent ac- 
cession of a competent professor of agricultm-e from the east, 

Augsburg Seminary is owned and operated by the Conference for the Norwegian- 
Danish Evangelical-Lutheran Church of America. The purpose of the institution is 
to educate ministers for the Lutheran church of the Norwegian and Danish nation- 
ality. It has three distinct departments ; one academic department, with a course of 
one year ; one collegiate department, with a course of four years ; and one theolog- 
ical department with a three years' course. The institution was originally organized 
and located in Marshall, Dane county, "Wisconsin, in 1869, but for different reasons it 
was removed to Minneapolis, Minn., in 1872. It was, during its operation in Marshall 
and at the time of its removal to Minneapolis, only a theological seminary, the colle- 
giate department being added in 1874. 

The teachers of the institution are three pruxessors of theology and two teachers, 
one instructor in English, one in Norwegian, and six assisting teachers. 




AUGSBUBG SEMINAEY, MINNEAPOLIS. 



Minneapolis and its Suburbs. 



69 




Univeesaust Chl'kch, Minneapolis. 

CHURCHES 

There are seventy churclaes in tlie city, of denominations as follows: Lutheran, 
12; Methodist, 11; Baptist, 10; Catholic, 7; Presbyterian, G; Congregational. 5; Ad- 
vent, 2; Friends, 2; Evangelical, 1; Universalist, 1; Discii^les, 1; Swedenborgian, 1; 
Hebrew, 1. 

^ Among the church buildings are several fine structiu'es, notably the Universalist 
chm-ch, which cost about $125,000, and Plymouth Congregational church, costing 
about $83,000. A new Presbyterian church is in course of erection, and "wlU jjrobably 
be as fine a building as any in the city. 



SAIET PAUL AID ITS EHYIROSS. 




^siiiiiiiii^ 




SAINT PAXn^ CITY 3IAEKET. 



T. PAUL, tlie capital of 3kIinnesota, is located on tlie east bank of the Missis- 
si^ sippi river, on liigli ground, Avliicli gives it a commanding view of the sm*- 
roundiug country. The sceneiy is picturesque and charming, presenting 
many attractions to the traveler. It is the oldest city in the state, the first 
settlers di-iviug their stakes and i^utting up their claim cabins in 1838, shortly after 
the ratification of the treaty by which the Indians ceded their lands to the govern- 
ment ; it was incorporated as a town in November, 1849, and as a city in March, IBoi. 
Being located at the head of navigation on the Jlississippi river, St. Paul soon 
became the most important point in the State, and attained the i^osition of chief 
commercial cit}-- of the Northwest, which it still retains. 

The visitor will view with wonder the great number of magnificent brick and 
stone business blocks that line the streets, and the evidences of prosperity indicated 
by the numerous buildings in progi-ess of erection in all parts of the city. Oiir illus- 



72 



Saint Paul and its Environs. 



trations are but a fair sample of the modern business blocks recently built and in 
progress. 

The population of St. Paul is given by the last United States census nt 41,G39, 
tut it is claimed by well posted citizens that this is from four to five thousand under 
a correct enumeration. 

As an indication of present prosperity, and prospects of steady gi-owth in the near 
future, we give from the annual report of the Pioneer Press a summary of business 
matters at the commencement of the present year. 

Of the demand for new buildings, that paper says: 

"The demand for tenement houses for families of moderate means is largely in 
excess of the siipply. Notwithstanding the increase of more than 500 dwellings dur- 
iug the year 1880, scarcely a house in the city is vacant to-day. A large number of 
tenement houses and blocks were erected, and every one vras rented before they were 
completed, and all are occupied now, while the cry is still for more. It is to be noted 
that the character of the tenements is annually improving in architectural appear- 
ance, as well as in their number. " 

The value of public and private buildings erected during 1880, foots up in round 
numbers $2,000,000, and work on street improvements, $1:jo,(iOO. The Fort Suelling 
bridge— built jointly by the govei-nment and the city of St. Paul— Hamline Univer- 
sity and the new Union Park, add about 8100,000. 




KEW GILFH-LAN BLOCK, ST. PATJL. 



Saint Paul and its Environs. 



73 








I^.fe^' ^ 



\.^^'V!-,v^i : m^ 



n 















! _" -;-_='-T3a 



jWilf 



nil If' ' J vi*-- - 










'^>ti®sK<S^--^- 



NEW KELLY BLOCK, ST. PATJE. 

Railway companies liave exiDended. in and iibout tlxc ci^y, en i:)ermanent improve- 
ments, about lialf a million dollars. 

AVliile St. Paul does not make any particular claim to being a manufacturing city, 
tlie totals for tlie year 1S80 are estimated at $11,500,595. 

St. Paixl lias seven banks, representing a capital of $3, .325, 550. 

Duties collected at tlie custom house for the year amounted to $1(3,93-1.73. 

To sliow at a glance tlie wonderful commercial prosperity of St. Paul, the follow- 
ing recapitulation of the transactions in the various branches of the wholesale trade 
dui-ing the year 1S80 is given: 



Grain 80,2*0,100 

Groceries 8,.:oo,COO 

Drv goods and notions 0,000,000 

Boots and shoes 2,500,C0O 

Coal 1,500,000 

Hides, furs, etc 1,775,000 

Hardware 1,:;30,000 

Cii^ars and tobacco l,-200.000 

Druirs, etc 1,200,000 

Agricultural implements 1,150,000 

Wines and liquors 1,000,000 

Books, stationery, etc 750,000 

Men's clothinsi 050,000 

Lumber 050,500 

Hats, caps and fur goods 000,000 

Mill machinery and supplies 600,000 

The real property valuation for taxation for ISso, was $21,018,018, and the per- 
sonal $6,907,339, and shows an increase of over four and a quarter millions over the 
preceding year. 



Iron, steel, etc 

Leather and tindhiss 

Flour 

Fruits, etc 

Confectionery 

Saddlery hardware 

Furniture 

Queens war 6 

Pork and Ijeef pscking 

Lime, plaster, etc 

Field and irarden seeds. . , 

Live stock 

Horses 



750,000 
400,000 
500,000 
500,000 
400,000 
400,000 
300,000 
300,000 
300,000 
225,000 
20,000 
570,000 
000,000 



Total $40,010,000 



74 



Saint Paul and its Environs. 



The deatli rate .or iSSO was 16.7 for eacli one thousand inhabitants. 
• St. Paul has twelve public schools, with an enrollment of 4,G0o pupils, an in- 
crease of 1,100 over the jireceding year. The parochial and private schools show an 
attendance of 5,985. 

There are forty church societies in St. Paul, divided in denominations as follows: 
Baptist, 4 ; Catholic, 7 ; Congregational, 1 ; Episcopal, 3 ; Evangelical, 2 ; Hebrew, 2 ; 
Lutheran, 7 ; Methodist, 9 ; Presbyterian, 5 ; Swedenborgian, 1 ; Unitarian, 1. 

The business of the post office gives total transactions at $309,GS3,57. 

"The city, owing to its position as the center of. a great railway system no less 
than to its geographical sitiiation, is naturally the entrepot between the markets of 
the East and the fertile regions of the New Northwest. With the rapid settlement 
and development of that vast territory, the importance of St. Paul as a commercial 
l)oint is boimd to increase, and it will not be many years before it rivals many of the 
now larger cities of the West in the variety and extent of its industries and the mag- 
nitude of its trade. Even now it is second in this respect only to cities like Chicago 
and St. Louis, and many of its business enterprises would reflect credit on the more 
pretentious interests of those metropoli of trade. 

"A canvass among the multitude of wholesale houses shows that the per cent, of 
increase in trade dimng the year ranges all the way from fifteen to fifty, and a few 
instances were found where the volume of business had actually doubled itself. The 
causes of this almost unexampled jprosperity are of easy explanation. In the first 
place, the factors entering into the general prosperity of the country, have contri- 
buted largely to the result. The bountiful crops throughout the Northwest have 
placed the agricultural communities in a position to suj^ply themselves with not only 
the necessities, but the luxuries of lite, and they h;Tve liberally recompensed them- 
selves for the forced economy of past years. The ranks of purchasers in the terri- 
tory tributaiy to St. Paul have been sweUed by a mighty tide of immigi-ation. Since 




LINDEKES, WAKNEE & SCHUEMEISK BLOCK, ST. PAUL. 



Saint Paul and its Environs. 



75 




c^llC^qa si p/\ul miMN.% DMAHA RJI-DFFICE 



early spring thousands of people from the crowded cities and exhausted fields of the 
East and of Europe have passed through St. Paul seekiug new homes on the fruitful 
soil of Minnesota and Dakota. The sales of railroad and government lauds have 
been innnense, and thousands of acres have, for the first time, been placed under 
cultivation. This vanguard of the population of the mighty agricultural empii*e of 
the great Northwest naturally has looked upon St. Paul as a depot of supplies, and 
the demand from this soru'ce has greatly swelled the trafQc of the city. The stupend- 
ous enterprise shown by tlie various railroad companies forming the St. Paul system, 
in extending and improving their lines, has materially assisted in tlie development of 
the trade of the city, by opening new territory to settlement and gi\ing access to 
districts already settled. 

"Prosperous as the past year has been, the future holds out still brighter prom- 
ises, and the trade that now amounts to over $1:(J, 0(1(1,000 j^er annum, will doubtless be 
doubled within the next few years. Already the business has outgrown the cpiarters 
which were thought to be amply sufficient a few years ago, and to meet the growing 
needs stately and palatial blocks are being erected, which for elegance of ai)pearance 
and elaborateness of appointments and conveniences will favorably compare 'with 
those to be found in larger cities. It is entirely within the bounds of prudence to 
say that the leading wiiolesale houses of St. Paul are not suii^assed, either in the en- 
terprise of their management or the magnitude of their transactions, by those of any 
city in the West. " 

Located but a short distance from most of the leading summer resorts, St. Paul 
has been for years headquarters for many of the tourists from abroad. Its niunerous 
fine hotels afford ample accommodations, and the excui'sion trains running to the 
lakes enable them to enjoy the pleasures of the rural resorts at any time they wish. 

White Bear Lake, described in another part of this work, is but twelve miles dis- 
tant, by the St. Paul & Duluth railway, and it may also be reached over a fine carnage 
road of about the same distance. 

Lake Elmo is twelve lines from the city, on the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneaiiolis & 
Omaha line, which runs excursion trains to the lake during the day. 



76 



Saint Paul and its Environs. 



Lake Minnetonka is but twenty-five miles distant, by the St. Paul, Minneapolis 
& Manitoba railway. 

Lake Como, foui- miles from the city, Prior Lake, the Dalles of the St. Croix, 
Lake St. Croix, the Lake Pepin resorts, are all readily accessible by some one of the 
sixteen railway lines that lead from the city in all directions. 

Trains between St. Paul and Jfinneapolis leave each city every horn* in the day, 
on two lines of railway, the run being made in thirty minutes. 

HAMLINE UNIVERSITY. 

"This institution, founded in the year ISSi, was originally located at Red AVing, 
•where it continued in successful operation until the year 18G9. Oppressed by finan- 
cial embarrassment, the trustees reluctantly concluded to close it until an adequate 
endowment could be secured. Picd Wing not being regarded as sufflciently central, 
it was determined to locate it nearly midway between St. Paul and Minneapolis. 
Owing to the great financial depression which immediately foUoAved, the enterprise 
progressed slowly, and often for months and even years was entirely suspended. 
Thus eleven years rolled away — a gloomy interregnum dm-ing which a generation 
was deprived of the opportunity for Christian culture such as their fathers had en- 
joyed. But the long looked for hour has at last arrived, and the reproach of Minne- 
sota Methodism is about to be taken away. The elegant and commodious coUege 
edifice was completed and opened September 22d, 1880, with an attendance of fifty 
students. The second term began with 100. " 




liiiiiiijjlir .. 







I 




wm^ 



HAMLINE UNIVERSITY, MIDWAY BETWEEN ST. PArii AND JinNNEAPOLIS. 



St. Paul and its Environs. 



77 



MINNESOTA FISH HATCHERY. 

An cstablislimcnt of much interest to every citizen of Minnesota, and to visitors 
from abroad as well, is the State fisli hatchery, about a mile below St. Paul. Here 
the commissioners have labored assiduously in the work of propagating several 
varieties of fish to stock the rivers and lakes of Minnesota. Brook trout have been 
put into streams along the Minnesota river, where they have thrived, and bid fair to 
become a permanent addition to the list of delicacies on the tables of the people. 
"Whitefish, California salmon, lake trout, shad, etc., have been placed in suitable 
waters, and some of the varieties are multiplying rapidly. 

The hatchery is under the care of Mr. Watkins, formerly of Ked Wing, and visit- 
ors to Willow Brook, as the place has been named, will be courteously entertained. 




LAKE COilO, NEAE ST. PAUL. 



Four miles from St. Tatil , over a fine, hard, gi-avel road, is Lake Como, a fashiona- 
ble resort of the denizens of the capital city, and a more beautiful spot does not ex- 
ist, even in Minnesota. On a beautiful, cool summer evening the drive to Como is 
most enchanting, A short distance from the city is situated Carver's Cave, the site 
of the treaty between Jonathan Carver and the Indians, by which the title to large 
tracts of land were secured from the aborigines. Many other points of historical 
and natural interest can be found in the immediate vicinity of the city. 

The antiquarian and lover of the curious should visit the rooms of the Minnesota 
Historical Society, where, besides a Ir.rge library, and files of state newspapers dating 
back to the organization of the Territory, a Museum of Indian curiosities is kept, 
which will be found interesting. 

A few miles from St. Paul, on the St. Paul, Minneapohs and Omaha line, is Lake 
Elmo, a popular summer resort, and most beautiful and inviting retreat. A fine hotel, 
Elmo Lodge, aft'ords good accommodations for guests, and is well patronized. 

^ The Minnesota Boat Club has its boat house and grounds on the island above the 
bridge across the river, and it is a veiy attractive place in the summer. 



78 



Wliere "We Rusticate. 




WHERE yVE RUSTICATE 



lioun 



XO matter iu -what 
direction we may 
go, on tlie public 
highway or by 
rail, we find the 
landscape diver- 
sified by lakes, 
most of them sui'- 
rounded by tim- 
ber, many fur- 
nishing good fish- 
ing, and all beau- 
tiful. Here and 
there we find cot- 
tages located on 
pleasant sites, 
where in sum- 
mer, a merry com- 
pany may be 
found enjoying 
the health-giving 
sporrs that are 
lade pjculiarly enjoyable by our climate, that allows one 
J^l to pass all the day out-of-doors, free from the enervating 
influences that accompanj' the same life in other states. 

No city iu the country is better situated in this respect 
than Minneapolis. At distances ranging from two and a 
half to fifteen miles, no less than twenty large lakes can be 
found, all but three or four of wl-iich are sought by sports- 
men and excursionists from tlie city, and tourists from 
abroad. Of these, most convenient, as being readily 
reached by railway at any hour of the day, and furnishing, 
also, a favorite and pleasant place for a summer evening's 
drive, are 

LAKES CALHOUN AND HAKEIET. 

These lakes are jjart of a chain of some twelve or fifteen 
Rmall sheets of water that form nearly a semi-circle on the 
north, west and south side of the city, and are but three 
and a half miles distant from the business center. A fine 
carriage road extends from Hennepin Avenue to Lake Cal- 
houn, and thence to Harriet, and owing to the fact that Min- 
neapolis has no pubhc park, our people have sought these 
lakes as a pleasant substitute, and hundreds of carriages are 
to be seen during the summer evenings passing to and fro. 
It is the fashionable drive, where every one goes to meet 
their friends and show their new turnouts. Besides this, we 
have the LjTida-le Railway, which rans from Bridge Square 
via First Avenue South and Nicollet Aveniie to Lakes Cal- 
Hairiet and Minnetonka. It is operated by steam motors, and furnishes our 




80 Wtiere "We Rusticate. 

citizens a pleasant and convenient mode of travel to all points on the route, taking 
the place of the street car in the city. 

Lake Calhoun is a handsome sheet of water about a mile across, its banks being- 
partially prairie, relieved by several fine groves. An excursion steamer, oAvued by 
the Lyndale Railway, carries excursionists about the lake, and gives an opportunity 
to visit any of the hotels, of which there are several, or the groves on the south side. 
An immense building, known as the Pavilion, is located near the railway, which is 
used for parties during winter and summer. The Lurline Boat Club has its boat 
house and docks on the south side, and the lake is one of the best for their pastime. 
The Minneapolis Gun Club also have grounds near the lake. Lakeside Cemetery is 
situated on a knoll on the bank of the lake, from which a fine view can be had. It is 
a favorite spot for those who lOve to wander in the "City of the Dead," and few ever 
leave without visiting the tomb of the "Lady of the Lake, " who has slept so many 
years on the banks of the lake she loved so well. There are a number of very fine 
monuments in the cemetery, most noticeable of which are those of the Washburn 
and'^HaiTison families, which cost $10,000 and $7,000 respectively. 

Lake Han-iet is about the same size as Calhoun, but its banks have more tim- 
ber, and it is generally considered the handsomer lake. There is no hotel or house 
of entertainment on Lake Harriet, but it has a notable attraction in the stock farm 
and summer residence of Mr. Chas. McC. Eeeve. Lake Harriet was the location of 
the first mission school among the Dakotas that was opened in the wilds of Minne- 
sota, and, we believe, the first place where the savages were given religious instruc- 
tion. Both these lakes were the homes of bands of the Dakotas, and were among the 
last of the lakes in this vicinity to be deserted after the whites came to take posses- 
sion of +,he land west of St. Anthony Falls. 

LAKE OF THE ISLES 

Is located northeast of Lake Calhoun, from which it is separated by a narrow strip 
of land, probably throAvn up by the ice, and along which the wagon road to Excel- 
sior, Lake Minnetouka, passes. Lake of the Isles possesses no attraction except its 
fields of water lilies, which are usually abundant in their season. 

In the chain of lakes north of Lake Calhoun are Cedar Lake, Twin Lakes, 
Keegan's Lake, Crystal Lake, and some half dozen others of more or less note. 

CEDAK LAKE. 

Cedar Lake is located on the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Eailway, two and 
half miles from the city. It was formerly a pleasant rescJrt, and quite popular with 
visitors and a noted camping place for city people. But from various causes It has 
ceased to be attractive. Its water is gradually subsiding, and it will probably l)e- 
rome in a few years a mere marsh. This is caused, it is believed, by the boring of 
an artesian well near the city limits, which draws Its supply from Cedar Lake. 

SIEDICrNTE LAKE. 

This is one of the popular resorts at all times of the year for lovers of piscatorial 
pleasures. It is a famous lake for wall-eyed pike i^articularly, and other kinds of fish 
are caiight in great numbers. It is located about eight miles west of the city, and is 
reached by the "Wayzata wagon road from Plymouth avenue, the route diverging to 
the right a short distance from the "Farmer's Home." At Medicine Lake there is no 
hotel, but a party by the name of Smith keeps boats, tackle, and other accommoda- 
tions for visitors. Our sportsmen all speak well of the place, and the lake furnishes 
more big fish stories than any other small lake in the country. 

PAEKEK'S LAKE, 

Lying to the right of the wagon road between the Parmer's Home and Wayzata, is 
also a profitable place for sportsmen to visit, but owing to rts Out-of-the-way loca- 
tion, is not much frequented. 

Of Twin Lakes, Cedar Lake-, Keegan's Lake, and a half dozeii others lying west 
and northwest of the city, it is hardly necessary to speak, except as handsome specks 



"Wliera We Rusticate. 



81 



in tiie landscape, whicii add much to ito attractiveness in summer and make gi-and 
skating parks in winter. 

BIG MEDICINE SPRING. 

One of tlie places that should ho better known and visited more frequently than 
it now is, is that called "Big Medicine Spring," ''Indian Spring," etc. It is located 
on the road leading out from "Western avenue, a mile or two from the city limits. It 
was a noted resort for the sick of the Indian tribes who roamed in tliis neighborhood, 
and its waters are beheved to possess remarkable curative properties. It bubbles 
out at the foot of a hill. The water does not taste nice— it wouldn't be a "medicine 
spring" if it did; but it is good for what nils yon. 




82 



Where We Rusticate. 




MINNEHAHA FALLS 



A pleasant trip of four miles from Minneapolis on the Eiver Division of tlie Clii- 
cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, or a drive by carriage over a level prairie, and 
we are at the Falls of Minnehaha, immortalized by poet and painter. Passing 
through the gi'ounds of the hotel, we descend a steep stairway to the gorge below, 
and a few steps brings us to a little wooden bridge thrown across the creek. In the 
spring-time, when the water is high and the foliage at its best, no fairer sight than 
that which meets us here could be wished for. 

" Stars in the silent night 

Might be enchained, 
Birds in their passing flight 

Be long detained, 
And by this scene entrancing 

Angels might roam, 

Or make their home, 
Hearing, in waters dancing, 

'Mid siiray and foam, 
Minnehaha !" 

As we remember it years ago, before the side of the glen was marred by the plat- 
form that now decorates its side, it was a place where one could forget that there was 
an outside world of noise and work and care, and the simple beauty of the murmur- 
ing cascade, with its numberless rainbows shimmering in the sunUght, gave one a 
feeling of rest that was delicious. 

It is still beaiitiful, though one feels that it should have been allowed to remain 
as Nature formed it, and cannot but regret that the money-making propensities 
of man should be allowed to deform so fair and picturesque a picture. 



WTiere "We Rusticate. 



83 



Crossing the little bridge, \vc pass along the steep hillside by a nigged path to 
the chamber uutler the crest of the fall, where we look through a fleecy cui'tain of 
descending "water, some thirty fee wide and sixty feet long. 

With all its summer glories surrounding it, Minnehaha is a place to be remem- 
bered ; and whei> ^ye have returned home, its beauty comes to us frequently in 
thought, standing out clear and disitnct among the beautiful scenes in "The JIagio 
Northland. " 




MiXNEHAHA Falls in Wistek. 



It is in ■v^lnter, however, that Minnehaha ismost enchanting and weird. When 
the ice has formed in columns from the crest to the pool below, if one can crawl into 
the chamber back of it, he will witness a sight that is rarely seen. It is like a fairy 
grotto — but cold as an Esquimaux lodge. The light passing through the ice has a 
similar effect as that of sunlight upon the falling water, but the colors are deeper and 
not so fleeting; hence we may recline on an icy couch and take in all its beauty of 
form and color as leisurely as we choose. With the thermometer down among the 
thirties the sensations are charming and enticingly romantic — but usually one does 
not linger long to enjoy them. Illuminations of Minnehaha used to be fashionable 
in "ttdnter, and were quite well patronized by the lads and lasses of the dual cities; 
but the enjoyment was generally most vigorous in the hotel parlors. 

Minnehaha is free ground to all who wish to visit it. The property was pur- 
chased some years since from the Tnited States government by Hon. Franklin 
Steele, and though offered for sale 'by him, a stipulation was inserted in the deed 
that an admission fee should never be charged for entrance to the grounds. 



34 



"WTaere We Rusticate. 







FOET SNELLING and CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE & Si. PAUL RAILWAY BitlDGE. 



FORT SNELLING. 



Located on the lieiglits at the junction of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, 
thi'ee miles below Minnehaha Falls, is the United States INIilitary Post of Fort Snell- 
ing. As one of the "old landmarks" around which cluster memories of the early 
struggles of the pioneers of civilization with the savage tribes that have since been 
sent to other hunting gi'ounds, this fort is a place of considerable interest. It is a 
prominent object in one of the finest landscapes in the country, and has frequently 
been compared by travelers to some old castle on the Pihine. Recent changes, how- 
ever, have considerably changed and modernized the suiToundings, and deprived it 
of much of its picturesqueness. The building of officers' quarters outside of the 
walls, and demolishing of the tower that formerly occuined the extreme point of the 
bluff, has given it much less the appearance of a fortification than it previously wore, 
although making it, probably, pleasanter for those who reside there. The fort is 
free to the inspection of the jiublic, who may enter within its walls and view what- 
ever of interest there is to be seen. In these days of peace, however, it does not 
present a very warlike appearance. Of incidents connected with its history many in- 
teresting stories are told, which illustrate the dangers, trials and hardships to which 
the early settlers were subjected, and the charact,er of their savage neighbors. As a 
matter of interest we quote from the Annals of the Minnesota Historical Society con- 
cerning Fort Snelling and the early days, while the territory now included within 
the boundaries of our State was the*home of the Dakotas: 

Beautifully located on an elevated blnff, at the junction of the TVlinnesota and Mississippi rivers, 
its massive walls make a strong impression on the mind of the traveler. Within its enclosures 
have been quartered some of the most efficient officers <f the L'nited States army, who have re- 
ceived with hospitality the various scientific expeditions tlij^t have from time to time passed 



Wtiere "We Rusticate. 



85 



through the country. On the island in front of the Fort, Pike encamped, and entered into negotia- 
tions for the site of the present fort. In 1817, Major Long, in a report to the War Department, rec- 
ommended the site for a permanent fort. In 1819, three hundred men of the Si.xth regiment, under 
command of Colonel Leavenworth, left Detroit, for the purpose of commanding the fort. On the 
17th of September they established a cantonment on the south side of the Bliuuesota river, at the 
present ferry. 

In the summer of 1820, when-Col. Snelling had command, Fort Snelling was begun. St. Louis, 
distant nine hundred miles, was at that time the nearest town of any importance. After the erec- 
tion of the fort, the first clearing at the Falls of St. Anthony was made and a grist mill built. The 
wife of Capt. George Gooding, of the Fifth regiment, was the first white woman who ever visited 
those beautiful Falls. 

The daughter of Mrs. Clark (now Mrs. Van Cleye, a resident of this city), was born while the 
troops were stationed at Prairie du Chien. 

The first row of barracks that were put up were of hewn logs, the others of stone. The Fort 
was built in a diamond shape, to suit the ground at the extreme point. Where the tree had stood 
was a half-moon battery, and inside this were the officers' quarters, a very neat stone building, the 
front of cut stone; at the opposite point a tower. The fort was enclosed by a high stone wall, and 
is well represented in the drawings of it. 

At the expiration of two years, the regiment moved into the fort, although not completed. The 
families of the officers occupied quarters in the row assigned to them. It was just before this time 
that Mrs. Snelling lost her youngest child— thirteen months old. The grave stone that marks its 
earthly remains is still in existence in the graveyard at the fort. 

In June, 1823, the first steamboat made its appearance at the fort, much to the astonishment of 
the savages, who placed their hands over their mouths — their usual way of expressing astonish- 
ment— and called it a "fire-boat." A salute was fired from the fort, as it was expected that the In- 
spector General was on board; and it was returned from the boat. The Indians knew not what to 
make of it, and they were greatly alarmed, untU all was explained. Additions were made to the 
society of the garrison ; several officers, who iiad been absent, returned to their regiment, bringing 
wives and sisters, so that at one time the company numbered ten ladies. There were six companies, 
■which fully officered, would have given eighteen or twenty officers, but there were seldom or never 
that number present at one time. 

Fort Snelling is now aisecl as a depot for troops and supplies, and a large number 
of new buildings have been added outside of tlie walls, whida are occupied as offi- 
cers' quarters. 




86 



Lake Minnetonka. 




View of St. Alban's Bay and Hotel St. Loui.';. 



LAKE MINNETONKA. 




HIS is the gem of 
nortliwestern lakes 
where annually gather many thou- 
sands of nomadic health seekers, who find in 
the immense forests that smround it, in the riu'al 
homes that nestle in shady groves on the banks of its Days, 
and in the limpid dejiths of its waters the renewed vigor that 
comes from out-of-door hfe in our climate. 

The Big Woods nearly encloses Lake Minnetonka in its midst, and many cozjr 
villas are built beneath the branches of the great monarchs of the forest on its banks, 
while villages and hotels have sprung up at convenient and available points. Steam- 
ers ply on its crystal waters to carry pleasure seekers to their destination, and fleets 
of sail and row boats are to be found at all parts of the lake, to supply the demand, 
of fishing parties. 

Wayzata, the railway station on the north shore of Lake Minnetonka, is reachecE 
from Minneapolis and St. Paul by the St. Paul, Minneapohs & Manitoba Railway, 
the distance being fifteen miles from Mnneapolis, and twenty-five miles from St. 
Paul. Excelsior, on the south side of the lake, is reached from Minneapolis via the 
Minneapolis & St. Louis Eailway, and the Minneapolis, Lyndale & Minnetonka Eail- 
way. The two lines to Excelsior are now being built, and it is expected will be com- 
pleted some time in Jul.y. Until their completion, passengers for Exicelsior go via 
the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Eailway to Wayzata, and from thence by 
steamer. 

During the summer trains are run to accommodate business men who have 
summer residences on the lake, and trii? tickets, good until used, and commutatii^n 
tickets, to be used within a limited time, are sold at greatly reduced fates. 



88 



Lake Minnetonka. 



The variohs points about the lake are reached by steamers, which make regular 
trips to meet trains to and from the city. There will be this season at least six pas- 
senger steamers, viz: one side-wheel, one stern-wheel, and four propellers. 

The past season has been the most prosperous one in the history of Minnetonka 
as a summer resort, over twenty thousand round-trip railway tickets having been sold 
to the lake, and thirty-five thousand round-trip passengers carried on steamers. The 
latter does not include those who occupy villas that can be reached without taking 
passage on the steamers. 

The "Big Water" is a curious aggregation of bays, and is a wonder in itself. With 
a length of over thirty miles and a breadth of about three or four miles at the widest 
part, it has a shoreline of over two hundred miles. Its undulating shore, bold head- 
lands or points, high, forest-covered banks, and constantly changing views, as seen 
from the steamers, constitute its great charm, and make it unlike any other lake in 
the world. One may pass weeks in saihng about its bays, and on every expedi- 
tion encounter something new and charming. The angler always finds ample employ- 
ment in securing the bass, pickerel and croppy that abound in all parts of the lake. 
There is a summer home on its banks for every one. The palatial hotels of Min- 
netonka Park, Carson's Bay, "Breezy Brow," and Crystal Bay, Mound City, Shady 
Isle and Excelsior, open their halls to the fashionable and the unfashionable ahke. 
The sick and the well, th'e grave and the gay, all find places in the crowds of people 
who enjoy the excxu-sions, the dancing and merry-making, or seek rest in the quiet 
homes that overlook the blue water. 

Those people who wish to avoid the noise and bustle of hotel life, can find 
pleasant homes in the village of Excelsior, or in the retired nooks about the lake, 
where the air is laden with the perfume of fruit blossoms and sweet scents from rustic 




Watzata, Noeth Shoee of Lake ^Iinnetonka. 



Lake Minnetonka, 



89 




flower beds, and where Rlimpses of blue water may be seen through vistas of green 
trees; where one may dress in old clothes, and swing lazily in a hammock, or recline 
on a velvety couch of moss at the foot of some venerable old maple, and di-eam of the 
dusky Indian maids and braves who dwelt here only a quarter of a century ago, or of 
the adventures on the last fishing excursion. They arc places where one feeLs a sense 
of rest and relief, and a longing to 
stay awhile longer when the time 
comes to go back to labor, and the 
turmoils of life. 

In the thirty miles travel required 
to make a tour of the lakeresorts by 
steamer, one sees many beautiful %.-p^' 
Views, Avhich are constantly changing 
as we pass from bay to bay. The 
broad and expansive scenes of lake 
and forest as we pass out of Wayzata 
Bay into the larger bay to the west, 
where we take in views of Point Wa- 
kon, a curious promontory where the 
Indians we^e wont to assemble for 
their wild feasts and dances about t^ 
the medicine stone, said to have 
been painted red with the blood of 
slain enemies, and on which each 
brave deposited the scalps he had 
taken in his forays; Spirit Island, BAimii^G grounds at excelsioe, lake minnetonka. 
where the lovely Indian maid was sacrified to appease the spirit of a Dakota warrior 
who in life was fain to take her to his "tepee," but from whom she fled to join an 
Ojibway chief, who slew his rival to secure the maiden, out was afterwards taken 
and tortured at the stake; of Point Lookout, with its half dozen beautiful villas, 
embowered in trees, high above the lake; of Breezy Point, with its club houses. 
Maple Wood, with its comfortable cottages, and the twin cottages of Cozy Nook, , 
all very near neighbors, where crowds of happy people lounge on piazzas, swing 
in hammocks, or sail in boats about the bay; of Starvation Point, which has a 
legend of sickness and wolves and ahnost death, in the old days, but is now enlivened 
by groups of ruddy cheeked lads and lasses, and comfortable elderly people, who 
come out to catch fish and cultivate appetite and muscle, and, by roughing it in the 
bush, acquu-e a vigorous condition of bodily health Avhichmay last them through un- 
til next vacation ; Big Island looms up. in the midst of all, with its beautiful points, 
covered with grand old maples, where are seen dozens of white tents, with innumer- 
able loungers, making themselves generally comfortable. South of Big Island we 
glide by Northome, a large and handsome villa. Carson's Bay, with its Hotel St. 
Louis, where the Minneapolis & St. Louis railway trains deposit passengers who wish 
to take to the steamers or stop at the hotel, is one of the almost hidden nooks, invis- 
ible until we are nearly opposite it, when it affords us a handsome view. On the 
south shore are Ingleside villa, Wood Grove and Moss Bank. On fiu-ther we see a 
romantic little island, called, for short, Gale's Island, but christened "Brightwood" 
by its owner. 

The village of Excelsior is located on the southwest side of this large bay, on a 
peninsula of hills, lying between tAvo bays, and extending out on a high ridge known 
as the Commons — set apart as a public pic-nic grove and camping ground, where 
hundreds of the visitors go to bathe. 



90 



Lake Minnetonka. 



Excelsior is a village of about 400 inhabitants, who generally devote their time in 
summer to caring for their guests from abroad. The summer boarding houses are 
numerous, and their i:»roprietors are kindly people who have acquired the reputation 
of trying to do their best for their boarders, and asking only a reasonable compensa- 
tion therefor — a feature, by-the-way, that is worth mentioning, and one which applies 
to most of our Minnesota resorts. Excelsior is the center of business for the lake and 
country south of it, and boasts of a large trade. It is naturally adapted to a summer 
resort, having high ground, ample shade, and a diversity of lake scenery. Fine 
drives extend in variotis directions into the country back of it, where well-kept farms, 
with large orchards and fruit gardens vary the monotony of a forest drive. Dozens 
of picturesque httle lakes are sprinkled about promiscuously, where one can shoot 
ducks in season, and gather pond-hlies any time ditring the summer, and catch the 
largest and gamiest of pickerel and bass. 

A mile west of Excelsior is located Minnetonka Lake Park, a tract of 225 acres of 
forest land, on a peninsula bounded by Gideon's Bay, the main lake, as it is called, and 
the Narrows; Gideon's Bay is a sheet of water setting back between the Excelsior 
shore and the Park for over a mile, and its banks are destined to be the future sum- 
mer home of a host of people who wiU build cottages. On the Excelsior side of the 
bay, a number of gentlemen from Iowa City and Burlington, Iowa, have started a 
summer settlement which they call "Iowa City Park," where they have already built 
four cottages, and made other improvements. They own a fleet of smaU boats and a 
steam pleasure yacht, and are well enough "fixed" to enjoy life most pleasantly, es- 
pecially as they are all enthusiastic lovers of the lake and its pastimes. Adjoining 
Iowa City Park on the west is Belleview, with two charming cottages. 




^F tj_i. 







'--'^ 




Excelsior, South Shoee of Lake MnmETONKA 



Lake Minnetonka. 




Aklington House, Wayzata, Lake Minnetonea. 



Lake Park is the last stopping place for steamers on tlie trip to the Upper Lake 
resorts, and is distant by the route the steamers traverse, from Wayzata, at least six 
miles. There are many points north of the Narrows, in Lower Lake, which the 
toiu'ist should visit, if he remains long enough to do it leisui'ely, especially as some of 
the most prohfic fishing grounds are to be found in the bays of the North Arm. 

The new line of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba railway extends along this 
part of the lake, and its completion the coming season will open up large tracts of 
valuable lake shore property which has heretofore beeii. inaccessible to the general 
traveler, and extensive improvements are contemplated by Messrs. Angus, Hill and 
Shepherd, which are not, at this writing, definitely determined, but will include the 
erection of a magnificent hotel, to cost about $150,000, and the creation of a grand 
park for summer villas. 

A very handsome property, located opposite the head of Big Island, known as 
Buena Vista, is owned by Messrs. Potter and Huntington, of Minneapolis, who built 
three or four neat cottages, some of which have been sold to parties for summer 
homes 

Passing through the Narrows, which is a narrow channel connecting the two large 
bodies of water, designated for convenience as Upper and Lower Lakes, we sail 
through a succession of bays, with high banks, covered with primeval forest. An oc- 
casional clearing is \dsible as v/e pass along, but most of the main shore and a greater 
part of the islands have been left almost unimproved, being only partially thinned 
out to supply the demand for fuel. 

On the left, after leaving the Narrows, we pass a high point, where the State 
Fruit Farm is located; one of those experiments that legislators are sometimes 
led to aid. Its mission is to propagate hardy varieties of fruit. 

Spring Park, on the right, is one of the improvements begun last season, and 
one that promises to be of considerable magnitude. The St. Paul, Minneapolis & 



92 



L.ake Minnetonka. 




VIEW FEOM LAKE PAEK HOTEL, LAKE MUfNETOKKA. 




93 



Lake Pakk Hotel, Lake Minnetonka. 

Manitoba branch line has a station at Spring Park, which gives it the benefit of com- 
raunication both by land and water. It is a fine tract of woodland, well adapted for 
a village of villas, and as lots are sold at fair rates, there is every reason to beheve it 
will be a successfu- venture. Some fifteen or twenty were sold last summer, on which, 
we understand, cottages are to be built within a time limited by the terms of sale. 

A little further on we pass Shady Isle, whereon a large summer resort hotel — 
Hotel Harrow — is located. Opposite Shady Isle, is a long point known as Howard's 
Point, on v/hich are two villas — Ilazeldene and Idylwild. 

The beautiful islands of Upper Lake form one of its most attractive features, giv- 
ing a variety and wildness to the scenery which is pleasing to the eye. Fire Fly (or 
Dunlap's) Island a summer home, is one of the most romantic spots one could desire. 

Enchanted Island is the enchanting home of Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Zimmerman, 
who have spared no pains in its adornment. Phelps Island, containing over three 
hundred acres, is one the finest pieces of property on the lake. Crane Island, one of 




Excelsior House, Lake Minnetonka. 



94 



Lake Minnetonka. 




Ckane Island, Upper Lake.Minnetonka. 



the curiosities of the Big Water, is noted as the home of myriads of birds— blue 
heron, cormorant and blizzard disputing possession, and keeping up a perpetual 
struggle for the spoils. The steamers usually pass Crane Island during the trip, to 
enable the passengers to get a sight of the birds, which are sometimes put to flight 
by the scream of the whistle. 

The Hermitage, located opposite Crane Island, is one of the most interesting 
points on Lake Jlinnetonka, its liistory possessing romantic as well as sad features. It 
was for j-ears the residence of Capt. Frank Halstead, a gentleman of rare talent, and 
qualities which made him loved by aU who knew him. He was one of the earliest 
settlers on the lake, and lived unmarried, though seldom without companions. Lov- 
ing his lake home, he surrounded himself with many comforts, among which were a 
sailing yacht, boat and a small well selected library. He adorned his cabin walls with en- 
gi-avings and chromes of nautical scenes, displaying considerable taste in their selec- 
tion. „ Serving four years in the navy during the war, he came back to his cabin pre- 
pared to enjoy its peaceful rest with even greater zest than before, and passed his 
days in apparent content. Fond of society, and a companionable man, he had many 
calls from tourists, whose company he always seemed to enjoy. Thus he lived until 
the winter of 1876, when he began the building of the steamer Mary, which, when the 
hull was ready for the machinery, was taken to Excelsior, where he remained until 



Lake Minnetonka. 



95 



she was taken out on a trial trip. For some cause he grew moody and depredsed, and 
one day in June k^ft for the city, where he transacted business which indicated that 
he meditated the commission of the deed which ended his eartlily career. He was 
missing for a fortnight before search was made, and his body found off the shore of 
Crane Island, opposite his cabin. He rests in a gi-ave on the banks of the lake, on the 
spot where he was accustomed to pass his leisure hoiurs in reading, and overlooking a 
scene which for beauty has no parallel on the continent. 

Keaching out from the Hermitage, to the Northward, extends a long point known 
as Hardscrabble, west of which is located a handsome villa called Mapleshade, owned 
by Mr. W. T. Whitehouse, of St. Paul. It is elegantly fitted up with the modern con- 







v-^tif^-^ 



CRYSTAL BAY, LAKE MINNETONKA. 

venienccs of a city residence, and its owner, with dogs, gun, boats and all sorts of 
Minting paraphernalia, enjoys Ufe, making it a permanent home. 

Mound City is the next on the route. Here is located the Chapman House, kept 
by Sumner ]\I. Chapman, where passengers may stop to dine. A boarding house is 
also located near tl'ie hotel. 

A Little farther on is the Lake Yievr House, kept by T. B. Carman, where the 
steamers also land passengers to dinner. 

The excursion is made daily by from three to five steamers, which gives passen- 
gers nearly three hours for dinner at Hotel Harrow, the Chapman House, or Lake 
View House, or for pic-nic-ing at Spring Park, or at any pleasant point where 
they may choose to land. 



96 



Lake Minnetonka. 




HOTEL ST. liOTJIS. 

Hotel St. Louis, illustrat- 
ed on page 86, is one of the 
most complete summer re- 
sorts iu the Northwest, and 
one of the many new fea- 
tures and improvements 
that has placed Minneton- 
ka among the leading plea- 
sure resorts of the Ameri- 
can continent. It was the 
first first-class hotel to be 
built on Lake Minnetonka, 
having been begun in Jan- 
ii!;ry 1879, and opened in the next July. It is very complete in all its departments, 
having capability of caring for 400 giiests, with a location affording the most exten- 
sive views ol the lake and surrounding country, and accessible by carriage road from 
the city. Th Minneapolis & St. Louis railway line passes but a little distance in the 
rear of the hotel, so that tourists from the South may be set down here without being 
compelled to go to Minneapolis. The patronage of last season from the South was 
very large, and the house opens this year with the promise of a large increase in the 
business, caused mainly by the excellent manner in which it was kept last season, and 
by the attractiveness of Lake ]\Iinnetonka as a health and pleasure resort, 

MINNETONKA LAKE PAKK HOTEL. 

The largest tract of land included in the grounds laid out for a park at any sum- 
mer resort in the West, is that embraced in what is known as Minnetonka Park. It 
is located on a peninsula of 250 acres, with a lake shore frontage of about five miles, 
including that portion ol the tract lying along the Narrows. This shore is nearly all 
liari beach. Nearly the entire tract was covered by large forest trees when purchased 
liy th association in 1879, but has since been cleared out to make room for carriage 
ways, building the hotel and cottages, and to give free passage for the lake breezes. 
Something over $G0,000 has been expended during the past two years in surveying 
and laying out the grounds, gi-ading roadways, building docks and boat houses, and 
in erecting the immense hotel. J. W. Hutchinson, the lessee of this hotel, has made it 
one of the most popular hotels in the Northwest. 

HOTEL HAKEOW. 

{>hady Isle, in Upper Lake,where f^^^F 
Hotel Harrow is located, is well 
111 own as one of the very pleasant 
spots of Lake Minnetonka. The 
hotel was first opened last season . 
and has since been considerabl;\ 
enlarged and many conveniences 
added. Maj. Harrow, its proprie 
tor, is a well-known hotel man 
from the south, to whom the honor 
belongs of building the first strict- 
ly first-class hotel on Lake Minne- 
tonka, viz. . Hotel St. Louis, which 
was the dawn of the new era, 
which has since brought xis the 
Lake Park Hotel, the Arlington, ^K 
and Hotel Harrow, and in the ^te- 




Lake Minnetonka. 



97 



traiu of events vastly improved the business of caring for tourists from abroad. 
Witli a location second to none for beauty, immediately on the steamer route, and in 
the midst of the best lake fishing in America, Shady Isle surely has rare attractions. 
Tliere are many hotels and boarding houses, boat fleets, business houses, etc., on 
Lake Minnetonka, ^vorthy of description, but as it would largely encroach on the 
space to which this work is limited, we are compelled to omit it, and instead present 
the following directory, taken from the current season's numbers of the TouKiST 
AND Spoktsman, for which it was compiled : 

HOTELS. 
Arlington House, Wayzata, loo rooms, G. G. Hyser, proprietor. Chapman House, 
Mound City, 40 rooms, S. M. Chapman, proprietor. Excelsior House, Excelsior, 50 rooms, 
H. F. Wait, proprietor. Hotel Harrow, Shady Isle, 40 rooms, T. A. Harrow, proprietor. 
Hotel St. Louis, Carson's Bay, 125 rooms, Eginton, proprietor. Lake View Hbuse, Upper 
Lake, T. B. Carman, proprietor. Minnetonka Park llotel, 150 rooms, J. W. Hutchinson, 
proprietor. 




Pkopelleb Sauct Kate. 



BOAKDING HOUSES. 

Appledore, H. H. Beers, proprietor, Excelsior. Central House, G. S. Slater, proprietor. 
Excelsior. Clark House, J. H. Clark, proprietor. Excelsior. Harrington's, yi niile from 
Wayzata, J. S. Harrington, proprietor. Long View House, D. Connor, proprietor. Excelsior. 
May Place, Mrs. C. May, proprietor. Excelsior. Mound City House, Mound City, Seymour 
A. Chapman, proprietor. Pleasant Grove, E. H. Page, proprietor. Excelsior. Pleasant View 
Cottage, Howard's Point, H. C. Keith, proprietor. Summit House, Mrs. M. H. Jones, pro- 
prietor. Excelsior. White House, Wm. Simpson, proprietor. Excelsior. 

Boarding Hates. — Prices of board range from $8 per week upward, according to rooms 
selected. Transient rates $1.50 to $3 per day. At leading hotels $2.50 per day is the lowest. 

PASSENGER STEAMERS. 

Steamer City of St. Louis, side-wheel, with capacity for 800. Steamer Hattie May, stern- 
wheel, with capacity for 350. Propeller Lotus, with capacity for 250. Propeller City of Min- 
neapolis, with capacity for 200. Pi-opeller Nautilus, with capacity for 50. Propeller Saucy 
Kate, with capacity for 50. Propeller Mercury, with capacity for 75. 

A supply steamer, called the Jennette, has been put on by A. Thompson, of Excelsior, 
which carries a complete stock of groceries and provisions, to fill orders of campers and per- 
sons occupying villas about the lake. It makes daily trip around the lake to supply customers 
and take orders. 



WHITE BEAR LAKE 







■ ^^MON'G the numberless pleasure resorts of the Magio North- 
land, none Lave attained a greater popularity than White 
Bear Lake, which is located at the junction of the St. Paul 
& Duluth and MinneapoUs & St. Louis E,aihvays, about 
twelve miles from Minnesota's largest cities: Minneapolis, 
St. Paul and StillAvater. 

Covering a surface of about 4,000 acres, with banks cov- 
-ered with the finest of forest trees, and beaches of pebble 
and sand, White Bear presents a combination of scenery 
that long ago gave it the title of Minnesota's gem. It is about foiu- or 
five miles in length, and is nearly divided lengthwise by a long, forest- 
covered islet, located nearly midway between its east and west banks. 
The water is transparently pure, of the color that gave to our state its 
name — sky-tinted — and from its depths the angler temj^ts the wall-eyed 
pike pickerel, black bass, red-eye or rock bass, croppy and perch. 

Here, also, floats the largest fleet of sailing yachts to be found on any 
western lake, and many of them of elegant model and costly finish. 

On its western and southern banks are to be found large and well- 
kept hotels, each with its modest cottages and handsome villas for the use of guests. 
On its western bank are a large number of elegant viUas, owned by wealthy business 
men of St. Paul, who send their families here to reside during the summer, and join 
them each evening after the close of business. 

Some of these villas are models of simplicity and taste, while others are more 
pretentious rhodels of elegance, but aU built with a view to harmony with the beau- 
tiful surroundings of lake and forest, and for securing to their inmates the greatest 
amount of comfort and pleasure. There is a noticeable absence of everything showy 
or tawdry, the owners seeming to have studied the convenience and pleasm-e of their 
famines, rather than to have made an effort at show. 

White Bear is the oldest summer resort in the State, and consequently is far ad- 
vanced in many of the conveniences required by fashionable people who do not care 
to indulge in the wild and sometimes inconvenient modes of life found at our less de- 
veloped watering places. Camping out at lakes remote from the cities is accompanied 
by many inconveniences and discomforts, which are submitted to and borne as a 
necessary accompaniment of a nomadic life. But here at "SVhite Bear we find it 
reduced to a science, and see encampments large enough to be called villages; the 
tents being as comfortably and even luxui'iously ftimished as their bed-rooms and 
h^'ing-rooms at home. While these camps present all that is elegant and tasteful and 
luxurious in their furniture and fittings, there are many at other parts of the lake 
where fun and frolic and wild life are all taken in the old original way, with a tent for 
shelter, a blanket on the gi'ound for a bed, a fire-place of three or four stones and a 
log or two, and a stick laid across two forked stakes for cooking the "grub;" tin pans 
and cups and iron spoons and knives, and abundant supplies of fresh fish, caught 



"Wtiite Bear LiSdis. 



101 




J\ 











GoosK Lake, adjoining V/hite Bear Lake. 



for each menl ; and perhaps the Arabs who thus let the natural inclination of man 
have its fu]l sway enjoy it quite as much as the more refined occupants of the dainty 
tents on the west shore. 

The recesses of " Spirit Island, " and the eligible spots on "Camp Point," as well 
as.the shady nooks of the "Peninsula," all have a liberal display of white tents. The 
bays and favorite resorts where the fish are supposed to congregate, are haimted by 
fishermen and fisherwomen, who know "just whore to catch 'em," from early morn 
until evening, and music and laughter are heard at aU parts of the lake. 

Being so near the large cities, with railways nmning from f oiu- to six trains a day for 
the express accommodation of pleasure-seekers and the business men who hve in cot- 
tages, it is no wonder that White Bear has attained its present popularity. One can here 
enjoy all the benefits of refined society, religious services on the Sabbath, society enter- 
tainments of aU kinds, even to the inevitable strawberry and ice cream festival once a 
week, for the benefit of the heathen in the neighborhood, lectures, readings and private 
theatricals— the latter an indispensable adjunct to watering place amusements ; "music 
by the band" once or twice a week— "regatta concerts" they call them— mnding up 
with a good, old-fashioned, roUicking dance in the pavilion or dining room, or a more 
stately affair in the parlor, are aU on the list of amusements. 

We have omitted the pic-nics and sails on the lake, but with so many shady spots 
on the banks, and sail-boats on the lake, they f oUow as a matter of course. 

White Bear is a popular place for pic-nics; they come from all the cities, and 
settle down on one of the many pleasant places devoted to this pm-pose, and find aU 
the enjoyment that the average pic-nic can yield. 

The encampment of the Knight Templars of St. Paul will probably be one of 
the great attractions here durino- August. 



102 



White Bear Lake. 



In the viciaity are numerous lakes where fishing and duck hunting ux-e profita- 
ble pastimes, and two railway lines furnish facilities for reaching the St. Croix, 
Chisago Lakes and Lake Superior resorts. 

From four to six trains a day are run between White Bear Lake and St. Paul, and 
two between the Lake and Minneapolis, the round trip from either city costing but 
fifty cents. Board at the lake ranges from $8 to $14, according to accommodations. 

The village of White Bear has a population of about two hundred, and included 
in its business establishments are three hotels, viz : Hotel Leip and cottages, the 
Williams House, and the White Bear House ; several good private boarding houses ; 
a large and well filled general store, kept by Getty & Son ; meat markets, restau- 
rants, and the well-known Leanian boat yards. Hotel Leip and the Williams House 
have large fleets of row and sail boats connected with them, and a large fleet is kept 
at Lake Shore Park. 

In the country surrounding White Bear are niunberless smaller lakes, some of 
which possess attractions for camping parties, while others are sought for fishing and 
duck htmting. Adjoining White Bear Lake, and separated from it by a very narrow 
strip of land, is Goose Lake, which is a favorite resort of old sportsmen, who make 
Hotel Leip their headquarters. The hotel grounds lie between the two lakes, and it 
is but a few steps to the shores of either. 

Bald Eagle Lake, a lovely sheet of water, fiill as handsome as White Bear, but 
not so large, lies a mile west of the latter. It is fuU of fish, and has high, picturesque 
shores. A few cottages have been built there by summer residents. A splendid min- 
eral sjaring is one of the attractions for invalids. It was walled up with marble, and 
a handsome pavilion erected over it, some years since, by Dr. Post, a St. Paul physi- 
cian, since deceo«"^.d, who also built a summer residence near by. This lake is much 




Green Lake, near WmxE Beak Lake. 



"White Bear Lake. 



Its 



frequented by camping parties from the city, who find it a pleasant resort, and by 
many White Bear visitors. 

Rice Lakes, a few miles from White Bear, furnish, probably, the best sport in 
•wild foAvl shooting that can be found in the West. 

By the St. Paul & Duluth and Minneapolis and St. Louis railways, which have 
their junction here, tourists have an ojjportunity to reach Stillwater, on Lake St. 
Croix, where the steamers connect with trains for points on Lake St. Croix, or for the 
Dalles of St. Croix. 

By the same lines they may visit Forest Lake, the Chisago Lakes, and the Dalles 
of the St. Croix at Taylors Falls. Another trip by the same lines is to the Dalles of 
the St. Louis river and Duluth, where connection is made with steamers for lake 
ports. From four to six trains between St. Paul aud "White Bear, and two between 
Minneapolis and White Bear, afford opiiortunities for \isiting the cities, or reaching 
Lake Minnetonka, Fort Snelling, Minnehaha, Lakes Calhoun and Harriet, Lake Elmo, 
and other resorts. 




Betweek MminAFCLis AIL St. Paul aid the Dalles of the 
St. Crod: aid Lake Superior. 




BOUT as attractive a trip as can be found oh 
the American continent is that which includes 
White Bear Lr.ke, Forest Lake, the Chisago 
Lakes,Tr.ylor3 Falls, the Dalles of the St.Croix, 
the DaUcs of the St. Louis, Duluth and there- 
sorts of Lake Superior. It is a trii^ that should 
be made leisurely, so that all the points not 
passed by the railroads may be included in the 
visit. The country presents a pleasing variety 
of wild and pictiu-esque scenery, including 
vast stretches of fine forest and tamarack wil- 
derness, i^rairie and openings, numerous lakes, 
and magnificent views of cataracts, rapids and 
rivers. 

Taking the trains of the Minneapolis and 
St. Louis railway at Minneapolis, or the St. 
Paul & Duluth railway at St. Paul, Ave first 
visit Yrhite Bear. From thence the traveler 
has choice of two routes to Taylors Falls and 
the Dalles of the St. Croix. If the journey is 
to include a trip to Duluth and other points on Lake Superior, the best route is by 
rail to Stillwater, and thence by steamer to Taylors Falls, which enables one to see 
the interesting points of the St. Croix Valley, including the DaUes and rapids at 
Taylor's Falls. From the latter station by rail to Chisago Lakes; thence to Wyoming, 
where we take the train for Duluth, which passes through an interesting but com- 
paratively unsettled region, and along the famoiis St. Louis river of Lake Superior, 
to the city of Duluth, where the tourist may pleasantly pass considerable time in 
visiting the many interesting places to be found in the \-icinity. Here wiU be found 
the elc'^?.nt sto..mcrs of the "arious transportation Hues, which make regular trips 
to aU points about the lake. 

FOREST LAKE. 

Forest Lake is twenty-five miles distant from Minneapolis and St. Paul, on the 
St. Paul & Duluth and Minneapolis & St. Louis railways, and is a favorite resort. It 
is famous for its fishing, but has not the necessaiy accommodations for large parties. 
It is a popular camp gTouad for St. Paul people, many of whom take advantage of 
the facilities for rei:hing it, to pas3 their vacations in tents on its banks. 



Chisago Lakes. 



105 




CHISAGO LAKES 

On the Taylors Falls brancli of tlie St. Paul & Duhitli an ..linneapolis & St. 
Louis railway, about thirty-five or forty miles from Minneapolis and St. Paul, are 
located the Chisago Lakes. These lakes are of very in-egular formation, being com- 
posed of some five or six large bays, joined together by straits. The shore line is 
variouslj estimated at from sixty to eighty miles, the extreme length of the lakes 
about nine or ten miles. These lakes are higher than the siuTouuding country, 
and consequently have no streams flowing into them, but are supplied by the raia 
and snowfall. There is an outlet, when the lakes are full, but for most of the 
year there is no water flowing through it. The banks are mostly prairie, although 
there are many fine groves of timber, which are carefully preserved with a view to 
erecting summer hotels in them. Since the opening of the new raih'oad, towns have be- 
come numerous on the lakes, and it bids fair to be a strong competitor of "White Bear 
and Lake Minnetonka, for the tourist business. As it has much that is beautiful, and 
as the fishing is equal to that of any lake in the country, it will stand a fair show of 
success. It abounds in wall-eyed pike, black bass, croppies, and pickerel. 

As the country is quite level about the lake, and well settled, it presents many- 
advantageous features for those who are fond of driving, as well as boating and fishing. 



THE ST UROIX VALLEY. 





E1«PBANCL. lO THE DALLES OF 



FTEK a time pass- 
ed at the Minne- 
sota Lake resorts, 
it affords a pleas- 
ing change from the pas- 
toral beauty of smooth 
"\\-ater, and nu'al land- 
scapes, to climb the craga 
and rock-bonnd bhiffs of 
^ur river valleys. Hence, 
a trip along the banks of 
the Mississippi, to the 
valley of the St. Croix, 
or the wild and rocky 
banks of the St. Louis 
river will be found most 
ij^;;^ pleasant, each havi u g 
characteristics unlike the 
other. A visit to the St. 
Croix, if the tourist can 
afford the time to enjoy 
it leisurely, should be 



jT ckoix 

made by rail to Stillwater, and thence to Taylors Falls by steamer, returning by 
rail via the Chisago Lakes. The trip can be made by rail to Taylors Falls, and 
thence down the river 
by steamer to Still- 
water, but we think 
the first mentioned 
route preferable, 
as one thus has an 
opportunity to enjoy 
the rugged and mag- 
nificent views in the 
Dalles, after ha\^ng 
passed much that was 
beautiful along the 
way, which, if seen last 
would lose in inteiest 
The St. Croix river and 
lake form the bound- 
ary line between Min- 
nesota and Wiscou'^iu 
The distance from 
Stillwater to Tayloi > 
FaUs, is thirty miles, a 
thirty mile panorama 
of beauty that varies 
constantly as wo pass scene neab the dalles of st. ckoix. 




Ttie St. Croix Valle 



107 




DEVIX'S CIIAIB, I>AI.T,ES OF THE ST. CEOIX. 

slowly along. Now it i.s formed by perpendicular cliffs, worn and scaiTed by 
the waters of ages ago; again liy lields of golden grain, or by a few taU pines which 
have escaped the general destiny of being sent down the river to be made into lum- 
ber; or by the clean white cottages of some thriving villages. Numerous islands cov- 
ered with willows, and a never-ending succession of logs, either afloat or stranded 
along the shores, are passed on the journey, and at one place,perched on the pinnacle 
of a rocky height, two hundred feet above the river, is an old church— calling to mind 
the legends of .Jesuit missionaries who came into the country when it was a howling 
wilderness of savages. It is not far from this chm-ch where the pilot will show you 
the hoof-prints of Satan's horse, left there ever so long ago, and behoved to be imper- 
ishable. They have been there for the past— but that depends upon who the pilot is 
who points themout^^and we wiU not spoil the story. It is the point where the divid- 



108 



Ttie St. Croix Valley. 



ingline was supposedto be between tlie Sioux and CMppewa nations, and its legend is 
interesting. There are many thriving towns on the St. Croix, and by getting on 
good terms with the pilot or captain, you will learn much that is interesting abou 
them all. One of the notable points is that called the Lime Kilns, which have been 
in operation, to some extent, for the past thirty years. The Lime is made from a nat- 
ural deposit of almost pure silicate, which has formed from the drippings of water 
from the banks above, and makes a valuable lime for blast fiuTiaces. A short distance 
above the Lime Kilns is the St. Croix Mineral Spring, 'yhich bursts- out at the foot of 
a precipice in a deep gorge a few rods from the river and yields water enough to cure 
the nation of all the iUs that flesh is heir to — but most'esiDeciaUy diseases of the kid- 
neys and blood. A handsome hotel stands on the bluff above, some 200 feet above 
the water. A stairway leads from the ravine to the toi5, and the view vip the valley is 
well worth the climb to see. 

A nttle further on is Osceola, where the boat may stop long enough to allow you 
to walk up a beautiful little glen for a couple of hundred yards, to see its beautiful 
cascade, — Osceola cascade, — handsomer than Minnehaha. The village of Osceola has 
attractions of its own which should make it one of the most popular of summer re- 
sorts. Picturesque surroundings, healthful locality, with trout streams and ponds, 
and the mineral springs near by, and a class of people who are generous and hospita- 
ble; what more need one desire? Nothing but good hotels. 

A few miles above Osceola we en^er the DaUes. Our engravings wiU say more for 
the scenery than y^e could write. For a distance of some three or four miles the 
scenery is remarkable for its rugged character, huge piles of rock rising on er.ch side 
to a height of some two or three hundred feet. The foundation is mostly trap reck, 
thrown lap by some mighty effort of nature, in apparently ccn:'used mas&es. But the 
geologists teU us the strata is almost as perfect as when it cccupied its 
natural position: that it has merely been heaved to the surface; f. little 
disjointed and filled with fissures, and on an angle of some ^ 
twenty or thirty degrees. To the casual observer it looks 
if it had taken several earthquakes, and a vol- 
cano or two, and thousands of years of glacial 
action, foUowed by numberless years of "•^^cor 
of water, to create such a £: ^ ' 




TV.e St. Croix Valley. 



109 




BIG EDDY, DALLES OF ST. CRUIX. 



chaotic mass. It is cliaotic in the highest degree, except where worn into per- 
pendicular walls or deep wells by the water. The latter are curiosities that are worth a 
few days examination. The walls are circular, with sides worn as smooth as a revolv- 
ing stone can wear them, and vary in depth from a few inches to fifty or seventy-five 
feet. The people have named many of the wells, and, as is usual in such cases, have 
made the devil a most prominent feature in the christening. The "Devil's Kitchen" 
is frequently filled by guests who take advantage of his satanic majesty's absence to 
broil their dinner, and eat their lunch on tiie rocky tables he has provided, and the 
"De\'irs Chair" is frequently visited by adventurous youngsters who do not seem to 
have much fear of its owner's return. 

There is considerable copper in the r^, jk in this vicinity, and the visitor who 
takes any interest in it can hunt up the copper mines, which are now being worked, 
though not to a very great extent. The rocky formation that begins at the foot of 
the Dalles, and forms the falls above, is the begining of the copper-bearing strata 
which extends to Lake Superior, and there is little doubt that it will be found ^'n 
years to come, a profitable mining district. 

Taylors Falls has pleasant surroundings, and the attractions of the falls and 
rapids, and of the brooks — which are all filled with trout — and good hotels, make it a 
favorite point for passing the summer months. A great many invalids visit it for 
the benefit of the pines, which are quite pie 1 along the river. 
• The Dalles House, H. Netterfield, proprietv , has long been a favorite resort, and 
there is a probability that a fine new hotel will be built soon, of which Mr. Netter- 
field will be manager. 



lllllilli!li!!iiliW;:lf:ililiiliS!!i!ill!ll 




Dalles of the St. Louis Riyer of Lake Superior. 




p^npt HE route to Lake Super- 
;| ior over the line of the 
Jl St. Paul & Duluth and 
Minneapolis and St. 
Louis Eailways gives the 
traveler an opportunity to 
view the various phases of 
frontier life, in a country 
where prairie and forest, tam- 
arack swamps and oak open- 
ings, lakes and rivers, barren 
wastes and fertile farms are 
strangely intermingled, and 
where the log cabin of the 
woodman, comfortable farm 
buildings and thriving towns 
follow each other in rapid 
succession. 

The distance from Minn - 

apolis and St. Paul to Duluth 

is 15(s miles, in which we pass 

about twenty stations. 

Taking the train at either 

DAI,LES OF THE ST. LOUIS KIVER AT THOMSOX. ^^ ^j^^ ^.^.^^ ^^^^^^^ ^.^ ^.^^^^ 

White Bear, and thence for nearly a hundred miles the track runs through a com- 
paratively level country, 
made up of "openings," prai- 
rie and marsh lands, and 
immense tracts of tamarack 
swamps. 

Thirty miles from the city 
we stop at Forest Lake, a fa- 
vorite resort for camping 
and excursion parties, and 
sportsmen generally, where 
it is worth while to spend a 
day in fishing. » 

Among the twenty villages 
on the route are Rush City, 
Pine City, Hinckley, Thom- 
son, Fond duLac and Oneo- 
ta, the first four named vil- 
lages being noticeable points 
which are growing rapidly, 
and present many attractive in the daijLES of the st. louis. 




112 



A trip to Lake Superior. 




features for either business, 
pleasure or health. The 
lumber interest of the re- 
gion along the railway from 
Pine City to Duluth is grow- 
ing to enormous proportions, 
the rivers affording facili- 
i| ties for driving the logs, and 
% the railway for shipping ties 
and wood. It is a good coun- 
try for stock breeding, and 
many large farms have al- 
ready been established. 
Some of the finest stock ex- 
hibited at our state fairs 
was bred in this district. 

For fall and winter sports 
there is no part of the coun- 
try better than that be- 
EAPirs OF THE ST. I.OUIS EiVEK. tweeu Eush City and Duluth; 

and for fishing and duck hunting it is unequalled. Eush City is about 4i miles 
from the St. Croix river, along which, on the Wisconsin side, are numerous trout 
streams. The lakes and rivers are abundantly supplied with fish, and pheasant, 
aquatic fowl, deer, bear, and many of the fur-bearing animals, are numerous ; so 
that one may find occupation or amusement nearly all the year. 

At Thomson we reach the valley of the St. Louis Eiver of Lake Superior, and 
from that point the railroad passes along the banks of the river for most of the way 
to Duluth, 23 miles distant. For the first ten miles we have a succession of magni- 
ficent scenery. Between pine-coverel hiJls of some three or four hundred feet in 
height, we get glimpses of cas- 
cades and rapids, chaotic piles of 
rock, and picturesque vales, which 
form a most attractive picture. 
One is never satisfied with the 
glimpse we get of it from the car; 
so, after resting at Duluth, we 
come back for a more leisvire view 
of its beauties, and, perhaps, a 
climb among the rocks. 

One of the finest cascades in 
the Northwest is near Thomson, 
where "improvements" are being 
made in the river for logging lour- 
poses. 

One cannot fail to notice the 
extent of operations at this point, 
and look with surprise upon the 
amount of labor expended in 
overcoming the obstacles in the 
rugged and rocky valley, through 
which the railroad opens an outlet 
for freight to the lake. daLiIiES of the st. Loui^ Riveh. 




A Trip to Lake Superior. 113 

THE CITY OF DULUTH, 

With a population of four thousand inhabitants, is the tenninal point of the 
St. Paul & Duhitb, Miimeapohs & St. Louis and Northern Pacific Eailways on Lake 
Superior, from which the in-oducts of the great farms of the Northwest reach the 
markets of the world. There. are uuiny entertaining visits to be made, and pictur- 
esque places to see in and about Duluth, before embarking on the steamers for other 
lake resorts, but our limited space precludes their mention. Chester creek, about a 
mile distant, offers some beautiful scenery, equal, almost, to that of the St. Louis 
river, and many a pleasant day may be passed in excursions on the lake or into the 
country in the vicinity. 

The rapid increase in business, by additional railway facilities, has gi-eatly en- 
larged the demand for more vessels on Lake gu23erior, and to meet this demand the 
steamer lines have added largely to their fleet of steamers, by which tourists may 
enjoy the pleasures of the most delightful trip on the American continent. 

Of the agTicultural capabilities of this section of Minnesota, we quote the follow- 
ing from the Geological Report for 1879, by N. A. Winchell, Professor of Geology at 
Minnesota University : 

In la.st year's report aUusion was made by the Sta1 e Geologist to the agricultural resources of 
Northeastern Minnesota. Fvirther observations and inquiries by this expedition tend to confirm the 
views therein exjjressed, so far a.s they relate to the agricultural capabilities of that part of the 
Sttote Ijing immediately along the lake shore. The soil on the hillsides .sloping towards the lake ap- 
pears for the most part to be thin, and the even contour of the surface leads to the belief that were 
the forests cut away the earth would. In a fe"?s" years, be carried down Into the water by lieavy show- 
ers, and thus leave a long and almost uninterrupted line of banen rocks from Bulutli to Pii-reon 
Point. But when the summits of tliis ridge skirting the lake are reached, a beautiful country of 
gently rising hills, sei^arated by spacious valleys, extends inland as far as the eye can reach. From 
the summit of Carlton's Peak, one of the highest points in the nortlieni part of the State, a land- 
scape of surpassing beauty lies before the beholder. The valley of the Temperance river, a consid 
arable stream which flows past the baee of this mountain and shoots Into the lake from a naiTow 
and remarkable gorge, can be traced as It Muds among the hills ftit many miles inland, and the 
range can be seen, which probably lies beyond this long and narrow lake, in wldch both the Temper- 
ance and the Brule are said to take theii- rise. Fiom summits above Caribou Point, Terrace Point, 
and the mouth of the Devil's Track, as well as from the highest peaks in the Grand Portage Indian 
Reservation, landscapes of almost equal beauty and attractiveness can be seen. 

The wooded and broken character of the country is often mentioned as highly favorable to the 
development of a wheat-producing region, as the danger of loss from wind storms is thereby ma- 
terially les.sened. The pro.ximity of the lake would have a tendency to keep the temperature low 
during the season when the wheat berry is forming and ripening; so it seems hardly possible that 
such a discouraging blight as swept over the southern part of the State in 1S7S, could ever afflict St. 
Louis and Lake counties. Oats and barley should by no means be omitted if one Mere to make out 
a list of those cereals who.se successful cultivation here has been placed beyond a doubt. 

Two hundred bushels of potatoes per acre is called a small >-ield. More than this, the potatoes 
are of the finest quality. It is claimed in Duluth that in the Chicago market the deliciousness of 
the Lake Superior potatoes is appreciated so highly as to make them preferred above those from 
any other locality in the West or Northwest. 

But it seems after all as if this part of the State is to be a stock-raising rather than a cereal-pro- 
ducing tcrriiorj-. The peculiar character of the soil adapts it especially to grass, and without the 
least apparent difficulty the wild species give way to the cultivated. From one and a half to two 
tons per acre is the usual yield with scarcely any care, and there are many unusually fine meadows 
in the counties just named. The hillsides, when cleared of the timber now covering them, will 
afford unsurpassed pasturage, while countless springs and rivulets and larger streams Mill give a 
never failing supply of the purest water— a condition that must never be overlooked in locating a 
stock or dairy farm. Convenience to market is another advantage which is here possessed. Cheap 
transportation by way of the lakes to the great centers of the wholesale trade of the country can 
be relied on for seven or eight months of the year, and the provident farmer will make his sales to 
fit the season of prevailing high prices. Hay, live stock, beef, butter, and all farm products can be 
transported to Chicago and New York as well as can wheat and oats and barley. 



THE "PARK REGION." 





tAKING the morning train on tlie St. Paul, 
Minneapolis & Manitoba railway at St. Paul or 
Minneapolis, a ride of sis hours transports us to 
the centre of the gueat "Park Kegion" of Min- 
nesota. It is a land that Nature has been generous 
with. In laying out the grounds for this great nat- 
ural park, the old dame seems to have forgotten her- 
self, and abandoned the regularities, for she has scat- 
tered the lakes and forests and prairies about with 
such a lavish hand, that the most fastidious of tour- 
ists, or the most exacting of farmers, could not fail to 
find something here to please them. 

The journey, after reaching a point about fifty 
miles northw est of Minneapolis, passes through a prairie and brush country for some 
distance, when it strikes the "Big Woods" and the "Park." 

Passing by many attractive scenes and thriving towns, we reach 

distant one hundred and thirty miles from St. Paul, time, five hours, and take din- 
ner at the "Lake House, " a very good hotel a few steps from the depot, and kept by 
Mr. W. Adley, 

It would be a difficult matter for one traveling for pleasure, to resist the tempta- 
tion of seeing more of Osakis Lake and its siuToundings, so we are not long in con- 
cluding to stop and explore its wood-girt banks. The guide tells us that Osakis 
Lake is about thirteen miles long, and nearly six miles in width at its widest point. 

From the village front we see spreading away before us for at least seven miles, 
a broad sheet of blue water, sparkling in the bright sunlight, and we straightway be- 
gin to think of fishing; and we ask about the chances for sport. Osakis is noted for 
its grand sport — we had heard that before. Its waters are filled with black bass, 
red-eye, wall-eyed pike, pickerel, whiteflsh, and some claim to have ght musca- 
longe. 

The shore of Osakis, measuring about thirty-five^miles, is a smooth, pebbled 
beach, with occasional patches of boulders, the banks being generally some ten or 
fifteen feet above the water, and covered with large hard-wood timber— oak, maple, 
basswood, etc. The lake lies mostly in Todd county, a small portion only being in 
the county of Douglas. The country siu-rounding Osakis affords considerable attrac- 
tions during the summer, as it is near the chain of lakes which cover so much of 
Douglas and Tod counties. There is considerable prairie land, most of which is un- 
der cultivation, Avhile in the timber are many clearings. The agi'i cultural capacity 
of the immediate neighborhood may be judged of from the fact that over a hundred 
thousand bushels of wheat have been shipped from the railway station, and its trade 
in railway ties amounted to some $60,000 last winter. The village of Osakis contains 
about 400 inhabitants, and is growing rapidly. 

AS A srMMEK KESOKT, 

Osakis offers much that cannot be found at the older watering places, in the way of 
quiet enjoyment. The Fair^iew House has just been opened by Mr. H. D. Benedict, 



The Park Region. 



115 




LETSON HOXJSE, ALEXANDRIA. 

and twelve cottages built on the grounds looking out upon the lake. The hotel is 
not large, as it is expected to provide cottages sufficient to supply the demand for 
lodging, no matter how gi-eat it may be, meals being served in the hotel. As the 
hotel and cottages have but just been completed, the grounds have not yet been laid 
out, but work is going on as fast as possible. We can say, however, that everything^ 
in the hotel and cottages is new, of the most desirable modern style, and "neat as 
wax." Boats have already been sent up from a St. Paul boat yard, so that sailing, 
rowing and fishing may be enjoyed by the guests; bath hotises are being built on 
one of the prettiest beaches imaginable; a number of single and double carriages, 
with good teams, ai'e owned by the proprietor, and will be ready for driving out 
pleasure and hunting parties. 

During the hxuiting season, beginning with the 1st of September, and ending 
December 15th, sportsmen will find in the immediate vicinity myriads of pheasants, 
water fowl, prairie chickens, deer and bear, besides a teAv of the fur bearing animals. 
Otter are frequently taken in the neighborhood. Probably the finest deer shooting 
is to be found at Osakis, and around the lakes about Alexandria, a few miles distant. 

ALEXANDRIA. 



In the county of Douglas there are no less than one hundred and sixty lakes ; 
what there is of land is mostly covered with timber, a patch of j^rairie being visible 
occasionally. What a country this will be in the days to come, when the land has all 
been converted into grain fields and stock farms, and the banks of the lakes filled 
with summer homes for tourists ! What a wonderful country it is now for the traveler 
seeking recreation and rest, or the sportsman who wishes to find abundance of game! 
» In casting about, recently, for an undiscovez'ed country where the thousands who 
visit Minnesota might find something worthy of their notice, we wandered into this 
great "Park Region" on the St. Paid, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway, being mainly 
induced by the following from the Alexandria Post, descriptive of the county of 



116 Th.e Park Region. 

Dougla : "Scarcely more tlian a foui-th of a century has passed since the first per- 
manent settlement hj <tlie white man was made in Minnesota, and much of the coun- 
try comprising this young and prosperous commonwealth remains yet unshorn of its 
prinaitive beauty. Doi\glas county-, of which Alexandria is the sea,t of iustice, is sit- 
uated in the heart of the great "park region" of the State ; a region famoiis for its 
handsome scenery, rJjounding Xix picturesque lakelets, beautiful native grovcz o.nd 
tmdTilating prairie lands, comprising the happiest blending of nature's aaudiv/oi! 
alike valuable and admired by the agriculturist, sportsman or representative oi in- 
dustrial art. Here in this beautiful "park region" of the Northwest has nature been 
most lavish in the distribution of her gems, and here is food ana materia^ upon 
which the student and lover of nature may feast until the senses become intoxicated 
with enthusiasm such as only nature's beauty, can inspire. Amid scenes like this is 
Bituated Douglas county, and as a central figure, around which cluster numerous in- 
land lakes, with their clear waters siiarkling like liquid silver in the sunhght, with 
shores fringed with beautiful forest groves, forming, r.s it were, a framework of rustic 
beauty, and separating them from the areas of undulating prairie, close upon the 
margin of lakes Ag-nes and Winona — two of the most beautiful of all this region — 
stands the beautiful and enterprising young cify of Alexandria." 

Alexandria, with a population of about twelve hundred, is one of the most enter- 
prising and important towns on the line of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba 
line, and is surrounded by a good agricultural region, as is proved by the fact tha': 
300,000 bushels of wheat has jjassed through its two elevators since last harvest, and 
considerable flour has been shipped from its mill. Considerable stock has also been 
shipped, and it has been for some time made the headquarters of cattle buyers, who 
ship by the car-load to the British Possessions. 

The town is very handsomely located on high ground, overlooking two beautiful 
lakes— Lakes Winona and Agnes — the railway line passing across the inlet connect- 
ing the two sheets of water. 

We have not the space to enter here on a description of the town and its busi- 
ness, our jDurpose being to call the attention of toiu-ists and sportsmen to its advan- 
tages as headquarters during their summer visit. It has a first-class hotel in the 
Letson House, which was first thrown open to the public during the past winter, and 
has already acquired the repiitation among travelers of being the "best kept house 
on the line." Mr. J. H. Letson, the proprietor, was formerly the proprietor of the 
Excelsior House, Minnetonka, and in his new home has brought his experience to 
good use in building and furnishing a house that is fully equal to any of the hotels at 
that famous resort, with the single exception of size, which the present business did 
not seem to warrant. 

Within a circle of eighteen miles, which includes all of Douglas, and parts of 
Todd, Otter Tail, Pope and Grant counties, there are over three hundred lakes, the 
most important of which are Osakis Lake, thirteen miles distant; Lake Whipple, 
eighteen miles; Lakes Darling, Latoka, Mary, Lobster, Le Homme Dieu, Carlos, Ida, 
Chippewa, Christina, Red Hock and Oscar, varying from two to ten or twelve miles 
from Alexandria. Many of these are connected by creeks or inlets, so that it is esti- 
mated that one may make a trip of over one hundred miles through some twenty or 
thirty lakes, which empty their waters into the oauk river. These lakes are aU filled 
with fish, and the pimty of the waters is unsurpassed, being largely supplied by 
springs which bubble out from the banks surrounding them. The forests and prai- 
ries suiTounding them afford the hunter the best of shcoting, prairie chickens, 
pheasants, squirrels, jack rabbits, deer and bear abounding in great quantities. As 
an instance of the abundance of deer, we may state that one of the business men of 
Alexandria, during'the past winter shot sixty-five deer iu his hunting txpeditious. 



The Park Region, 



117 



Tlie advantages of the Park l\c'giou for permanent settlers are not surpassed in 
any otlier section of the Northwest. The land is fertile, and adapted to wheat, corn, 
and all the vegetables, as well as to stock raising. The farmer may readily imagine 
what a country it must be that can supply wood, Avater and hay in unlimited quanti- 
ties, with a market for all he can produce within a few miles drive from his home, 
and also where land is cheap. 

To aid in bringing this region within the reach of land seekers, tourists and 
sportsmen, the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Pailwr.y Company will make liberal 
rates for round trip tickets from St. Paul and Minneapolis to Alexandria and Osakis 
during the summer. 

Parties visiting Alexandria for the purijose of locating in business or in quest of 
land, should call on F. T>. Yannocscn, at the Bank of Alexandria, W. S. Moles, or J. 
A. McKay, who will furnish all needful information about the country for miles around. 

Tourists and sportsmen stopping here, after interviewing the obhging station 
agent, Mr. Geo. II. Rowe, who is always ready to impart what information he can, 
should make the acquaintance of Mr. J. H. Letson, of the Letson House, Messrs. Geo. 
Fiobards, John Cowing, G. B. Ward, Dr. Vivian, and C. Schultz, the gunsmith, who 
are aU ardent sportsmen, old residents, and good fellows, who would ask nothing 
better than to talk shooting and fishing with visitors; and do not forget to take in the 
gentle editors of the News and Post, two of the best newspapers west of Minneapolis; 
and when you need an accommodating and good natured man to transport your bag- 
gage aud "traps" to any place, caU on Frank Kent, the 'bus man. 

We would refer sportsmen who desire to pass a short time at Osakis, to H. D. Bene- 
dict, of the Fairview House; Mr, Kneutson, Dr. C. M. Long, Mr. Scott, the Osakis 
photographer, or "Wos. Mann, the "wild hunter." All are well posted in sporting 
masters, and wiU cheerfully give full information in regard to the best iDlaces for 
gam 




Scene in the "PAiiK Region." 



118 



Th.e Land of Promise. 




WORTHINGTON, NOBLES COUNTY, SITUATED ON LAKE OKAEENA. 



."\ 



-;S^^*i^M*-4* 







r-LOWING ON THE KENDALL FARM OF 5000 ACRES. NEAR HERON LAKE. 



THE LAxND OF PROMISE; 



■^tmf^j^fc Oil HfW<5t:.iAKt. ..a^ 








F the leading resorts of the Northwest, none, perhaps, ai-c more worthy of no- 
tice than those lying along the route of what is called the Chicago, St. Paul, 
Minneapolis & Omaha Line (formerly known as the St. Panl & Sionx City 
route), composed of the Sioux City & Pacitic and St. Paul, Minnerii)olis & 
Omaha Piailways. 

Passing through a country famed for its fertility and bountiful agx'icultural re- 
sources, and interspersed v;ith large tracts of timber and prairie lands, with numer- 
ous lakes and rivers diversifying its scenery, we can imagine no country offering, 
greater attractions to the farmer, business man, or health and pleasure seeker, than 
this. Noticeable among the attractive places on this route is 

HEEON LAKE, 

which is situated 160 miles from St. Paul, at the junction of the Black Hills branch 
with the main line. This lake is one of the largest and finest sheets of water in 
Southern Slinnesota, and has long been an attractive resort for tourists and sports- 
men. It is some ten miles long, and one to four miles wide, and abounds in fish and 
water fowl, while prairie chicken are to be found in gi-eat abundance 'within a short 
distance. 

A large new hotel, the Chapman House, offers excellent accommodations, and 
furnishes livery, boats, etc., for its guests. 



120 



Th.e Land of Promise. 



Wilitin a radius of ten miles about tlie hotel there are twelve lakes, among them 
tlie noted Graham Lakes. 

Among the leading points on thjs line is the village of 

SIOUX FALLS, DAKOTA, 

of which the official guide, published by the land department of the company, has 
the folloTv'ing, quoted from the Pioneer Press: 

"Nestled in the valley of the Big Sioux River, and climbing the hillside and crowning the hill 
top in the southeastern portion of Dakota, lies the village of Sioux Falls. Ransacked by the Indians 
a few years ago, and completely deserted by the whites, it was little more than an Indian trading 
post, until, in the onward push of settlers for the free lands of Dakota, it suddenly began to assume 
importance, when the St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad started a spur from Worthington, Minnesota, 
and the Dakota Southern, looking northward from Sioux City each sent their engineers to discover 
a practical route to the frontier village of about 500 inhabitants. With sudden impulse the embryo 
city assumed a self-importance which events have since justified beyond the hopes of the confident 
500, who at that time hauled their produce by wagons 63 miles to Worthington. 

"In 1878 the v.-histle of the locomotive first reverberated in the Big Sioux Valley, and the 700 peo- 
ple of Sioux Falls welcomed the first train of cars July 1, 1878. I write to-day, and the busy hum of 
industry from 2,100 people chords to the music of the waterfalls, and I know of no other place mak- 
ing such rapid strides upon what has the appearance of solid and enduring groundwork. 





SIOUX FALLS, D. T. 



lOUX FALLS, D. T. 



"This brings me to the most important feature of Sioux Falls. The falls are veritable falls, and 
the water power within a half a mile of the heart of the business center is second only to the power 
of Minneapolis. A heavy volume of water for a large portion of the year, and a liberal volume for 
the remaining portion, falls 70 feet in one-half mile, and affords a scene of bewitching beauty full 
of promise to the future of Sioux Falls, when its 2,500 horse power shall have been utilized. 

"A year ago eighty acres of ground went begging for a buyer. It embraced about all of the 
available power, and included an island of ten acres covered with a forest of giant trees, the like of 
which is not to be seen within 200 miles. As trustee of the Sioux Falls Water Power Company, J. H. 
Drake, of the Sioux City Road, now holds the deeds for this magnificent property, and with W. H. 
Bailey, formerly of New York, as directing manager, 100 men have been at work during the past six 
weeks,^and a monstrous stone structure 100x80 feet is rising from its rocky foundation, and will, one 
year hence, be turning out 500 to COO barrels of flour daily. A linseed oil mill, a starch and farina 
factory, a woolen mill, and a plow manufactory are in contemplation, and the Sioux Falls Water 
Power Company, whose stock can hardly fail to be valuable, was one of the chief motors to extrav- 
agantly elevate the hopes of these wide-awake, sanguine people." 

The improvements spoken of above have been completed, with many others of 
equal importance, bringing a considerable addition to the population, as well as the 
business of the town. 

Along the line are many important towns, which, with the rapid settlement of 
the agricultural regions surrounding them, have been rapidly growing in import- 



The Land of Promise. 



121 




MiNNEOPA Falls. 



ance. Many noteworthy farms have also been opened in the prairie districts, among 
which may be mentioned the "Warner Eock County Farm" of 23,000 acres, which oj 
itself is a great attraction. 

MINNEOrA FALLS. 

Located near this line of railroad, 180 miles from St. Pan! and Minneapolis, is 
one of the handsomest falls in the country, which, by many visitors, is pronounced 
equal to Minnehaha, and well worth seeing. 

LAKE CRYSTAL, 

located in Blue Earth county, 98 miles from St. Paul, is quite a noted lake, and t)re- 
sents many attractions. 

Lack of space only prevents a long description of the numerous places on this 
favorite route from the southwest, which need only be visited to draw forth enthusi- 
astic praise from travelers. 



122 



Ttie Land of Promise. 



.VOKTHINGTON, MINNESOTA. 

Wortliington, Nobles county, is one of the tliriviug towns of Southern Minne- 
sota. It is located on Lake Okabena, near the junction of the Sioux Falls branch of 
the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha railway, 178 miles from St. Paul and 
Minneapolis. 

LAKE ELMO. 

Of the noted resorts of Minnesota, Lake Elmo occupies a prominent place, as 
well as a most popular one. It is located 12 miles east of St. Paul, on the St. Paul, 
Minneapolis & Omaha Line, and a fine hotel, with 150 acres of woodland and lawn, 
offers to visitors a pleasant place to pass their season of rest. The house accom- 
modates 250, and fourteen trains a day between St. Paul, Elmo, Stillwater and Hud- 
son, gives every advantage for visitors to the surrounding towns. 




SCENE ON LAKE ELMO, TEN MILES FROM ST. PAUL. 



---^N^^^' 




/ALBERT LEA. 



^NE of the pleasantest points in Soutliern Minnesota for tourists and sports- 
men to visit, is Albert Lea, tlie countj' seat of Freeborn county, at the junc- 
tion of tlie Bm-lington, Cedar Rapids & Northern, Minneapolis & St. Louis, 
the Fort Dodge extension of the Minneapolis & St. Louis, and the Southern 
Minnesota railroads. Three beautiful lakes, whose banks are covered by timber, lie 
on three sides of it, and it lies in the midst of a magnificent and fertile countrj', that 
is made attractive to visitors by fine drives among well-cultivated farms, interspersed 
with numerous lakes. 

Its lakes are filled with fish, and the prairies abound with prairie chickens ; in 
fact, it is one of the favorite resorts for hunters during the fall. The opening of the 
Fort Dodge extension, last faU, through a country that has never been much hunted 
over, and consequently is well filled with game, offers an additional inducement to 
lovers of this sport. There are two good hotels at Albert Lea ; one of them, the HaU 
House, being noted for its excellent management and i^leasant surroundings. The 
Winslow House, located near the raih'oad depot, is one of the best railway dining 
houses in the United States. 

'» The attractions of its surroundings has made Albert Lea a popular resort for 
tourists, and the business has been gi-adually increasing as the facilities for reaching 
it have been improved. It has many handsome private residences, and many of 
them are enlivened dui-ing the hot months by summer visitors. 



124 



Albert Lea. 



Between Albert Lea and Minneapolis there are many points attractive to the 
tourist, where hunting and fishing are profitable pastimes. Numberless fine lakes 
offer inviting spots for camping on their banks, and the loAvlands along the Minne- 
sota river furnish good duck shooting, while woodcock are quite plentiful at some 
points. About Waterville, and on the prairies between that village and Minneapolis 
there is good work for dog and gun. 

The scenery on this part of the line is peculiarly attractive and pleasing, there 
being many fine views on the Minnesota river. 

Pdley's Lake is a delightful little body of water, covering about 2,000 acres of 
ground, witli something like ten miles of shore, gorgeously decorated with forests of 
white maple trees. It is situated about seventeen miles from Minneapolis, on the 
line of the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad. Two passenger trains each way 
daily pass within a rod of the eastern shore of the lake, and the gentlemanly con- 
ductors on this excellent and Avell managed road will always be willing to let parties 
off or pick them up at the crossing. The scenery about the lake is varied and pic- 
turesque, and wiU well repay a visit. The lake abounds in fish — principally pickerel 
and bass— which can be caught in unhmited quantities, and with very little labor. 
The water in portions of the lake is very deep and clear — so clear that one can see 
into it quite distinctly to a depth of from fifteen to twenty feet. And the true dis- 
ciple of Isaac Walton can find no higher enjoyment than to have a wrestle with a 
four or five pound bass, after having seen him take the hook and swim gracefully 
away. As yet Riley's Lake is not a place of popular resort with tourists, and is 
therefore free from the "whoodadoodas" consequent thereon, which is one of its 
chief attractions to parties loving a quiet time. 




WINSLOW HOUSE, ALBEKT LEA. 



HOME OF THE SPORTSMAN. 




'ANY of the tourists who visit Minnesota during 
vacation, do so with the anticipation of hav- 
good time in the hunting fields and in fishing. 
-The latter pastime may be engaged in profitably at 
any of our eight thousand lakes, which, with the 
exception, perhaps, of a few small bodies of water 
located near the large cities, all afford abundant 
supplies of black and rock bass, pickerel, pike, crop- 
pies and sunfish. Some of the lakes also contain 
•tX°'nRfr''"'"^t^!'! i Si li illS^^il^'JM'W whitefish, and muscalonge are found in those hav- 

[ ^l^^lHinjjjli^JjI^Ww outlets in the Upper Mississippi. The State 

^''' ' '"'^'*- ''^^''^ Srmnnr hatchery has supplied most of our lakes with Cali- 

fornia salmon, so that it will be but a year or two 
before that gamey fish will produce exciting sport. 
,;^. There is no doubt that they have already' attained 
sufficient size to make it profitable pastime ; but as 
ovii people have yet to learn its habits, the Califor- 
nia salmon is almost a stranger in the strings that 
are brought in by anglers. The writer was informed 
in a recent conversation with the Superintendent of the State hatchery, that in some of the lakes 
quite large schools may be seen at any time, but they do not take the bait that is offered them, 
paying no attention to that usually successful in enticing our native fish, or to artificial flies. 

Fish may be lawfully taken at all times in our lakes and streams, except in the lakes of Ram- 
sey and Hennepin counties, by spearing, shooting, or angling with hook and line. Netting is 
allowed in a few of the lakes in unsettled districts only. Spearing is prohibited, in the lakes of 
the two counties named, during the spawning season. Spearing is prohibited by a special law in 
Lake Minnetonka at all times, under penalty of not less than $5 or more than $50 for each 
oft'ence . 

Brook trout are to be found in nearly all streams along the east side of the Mississippi below 
the St. Croix river, and in a few on the west side, but for profitable fishing the tributaries of the 
St. Croix riyer, on the Wisconsin side, must be sought. 

Trout may be taken in Minnesota from the 1st of April until the 1st of October; and in Wis- 
consin from the 15th of April until the 15th of September. The most profitable trout streams of 
easy access from Minneapolis and St. Paul are the following: Trout brook, Dakota county; take 
C M. & St. P. railway to Hastings, and thence 10 miles by private conveyance. The Trimbelle, 
near Prescott, Wis. , C . M . & St. P . railway to Hastings, and thence by private conveyance to the 
stream. The Killikinnic, which empties into Lake St. Croix a few miles above Prescott, can be 
reached from Prescott or Hudson. Rock creek, about 4J^ miles from Taylor's Falls, and Osceola 
creek, about 6 miles from Taylor's Falls, afford a little sport during the early part of the season. 
There are also several trout ponds in that vicinity, where those who wish to fish for the sake of 
getting a good supply without much trouble, can be gratified by paying at the rate of 25 cts. a 
pound for what they catch. 

FISHING AND HUNTING ON THE UPPER ST. CROIX. 
There is probably no section of the Northwest that affords better hunting and fishing than 
that in the valley of the Upper St. Croix, and certainly none that can be so easily traversed, or 
that is so accessible. Starting from Taylors Falls, on the Minnesota side of the St. Croix river, 
there is considerable forest affording good shooting, and after reaching a point perhaps twenty 
miles up the river, several good trout streams. On the Wisconsin side, however, there is as good 
sport as the most ardent worshiper of the nimble and toothsome trout, or wild flavored grouse, 
deer and bear, could desire. The country back of St. Croix Falls for a few miles, and along the 
east side of the valley, stretching northeasterly for a hundred miles or more, is a series of hills 



126 The Home of the Sportsman. 

and valleys, covered with hardwood and pine timber, interspersed with occasional patches of 
dense underbrush, that has grown up in the place of the forest trees that have been destroyed by 
fire. On these hills, and in the ravines, there is the best of cover for game of all kinds. The 
country is furrowed by ravines and valleys, down which the water from bubbling springs comes 
singing and rippling along, to seek an outlet in the river that sweeps along to the sea. In the 
tiniest thread of a rivulet that winds silently and gently on, under the branches of overhanging 
trees, as well as the noisier brook that comes foaming down over rocks and rapids, we find the 
speckled trout in its wildest, gamiest state and truest flavor, and we have only to drop the tempt- 
ing fly or seductive worm to secure a prize that will send a thrill through the bosom of the angler, 
that is never experienced over the capture of any other fresh water fish. As we think of the 
May-days passed in the midst of these grand old forests, where the silence is only broken by the 
rustling of branches moved by the winds, the singing of innumerable birds, or babbling of 
brooks, save when harshly broken by the signal shot of a companion or the crack of a rifle, we 
look with envy upon the life of the hunters and fishermen who gain their livelihood from these 
recesses. This section has been visited by but few .sportsmen from alaroad, and hence its value is 
not generally known except to residents in the valley or along the St. Paul & Duluth and North- 
ern Wisconsin Railway.?. 

In the vicinity of St. Croix Falls, the trout streams are both numerous and well stocked with 
trout, and the disciples of the rod and reel can here find good sport. Close's creek, about four 
miles south of the village, although pretty well fished, still affords the skillful angler many a fine 
mess for his table. North of the village there are four trout brooks, not yet dignified by names, 
before reaching Big Rock creek, the mouth of which is not over two and one-half miles from St. 
Croix Falls. On this creek there is good free fishing for a distance of about three miles before 
reaching Blanding's mill, and the mill pond is so full of trout, that parties who wish to spend a 
day there must provide themselves with plenty of accommodations for caring for spoils ; here, 
however, the fish have to be paid for at the rate of twenty -five cents per pound for what are 
taken away. Above the pond there is good free fishing, but the fish are not so large as below the 
dam. At Wolf creek, about twelve miles above the falls, and at Cowan's brook, and other tribu- 
taries of Trade river, trout in large quantities^ — and good sizs — can be caught at all times in sea- 
son. Clam river and tributaries are the finest trout streams in the State beyond doubt, and, 
although about thirty miles northeast of St. Croix Falls, will amply repay the journey to any 
one who enjoys a trip through the primitive wilds of the forest, and only just removed from the 
advancing hosts of civilization. Convenient to all of these trout streams, are farm houses and 
stopping places, where food and lodging can be had for those who do not desire to camp out. 

Besides the fine fishing on these streams, the scenery is beautiful ; water falls, cascades and 
placid pools are to be met with every few steps, while from many a sharp bluff along their course, 
fine views of the surrounding country are to be obtained. 

Trouting in the Lake Superior region needs but a bare mention here, as it is well known to 
most sportsmen to be equal to any in the country. To be thoroughly enjoyed, the sportsman 
must go prepared to encounter fatigue, to walk, wade and climb, and to endure all the trials, as 
well as to enjoy the pleasures incident to the trip, which should always be engineered by a good 
guide, who will row the boat, prepare the food, attend to fires, look after the luggage, and keep an 
eye to your general welfare, — at about f 1 a day, which will include boat hire and all necessary 
services. Guide books to Lake Superior can be procured of the ticket agents. 

There are few sections in the Union that afford better sport with gun and dog than the prairies 
and forests of Minnesota. The Big Woods, a belt of hardwood timber 180 miles long, and from 1.5 
to 40 miles wide, extending across the State, and the immense tracts of pine, covering about 21,000 
square miles, afford abundant supplies of deer and bear, and many of the smaller animals, and 
ruffed grouse; the numerous lakes abounding with ducks, brant and geese. The boundless prairies, 
now being rapidly turned into wheat farms, breed myriads of prairie chickens, which increase in 
numbers as the country is improved and furnishes them better food. 

The shooting grounds are readily reached by rail from Minneapolis or St. Paul. The favorite 
resorts are those affording good sport with least trouble of getting to them. The vicinity of Al- 
bert Lea, on the M. & St. L. and B., C. R. & N. railways, the country along the newly opened 
Fort Dodge extension of the M. & St. L. Ry, and the prairies along the line of the M. & St. L. 
railway, between Albert Lea and Minneapolis, are favored by many of our local sportsmen. Ver- 
milion prairie, on the line of the Hastings & Dakota division of the C. M. & St. P. road, in Da- 



The Home of tiie Sportsman. 127 

kota county, offers good chicken shooting, and there is excellent sport along the H. & D. road in 
Renville county. The main and branch lines of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba railway of- 
fer as good sport as can be found in the West, the park region, in the neighborhood of Alexan- 
dria, Osakis, Euclid and Hallock being famous for a bountiful supply of game. 

Pheasants, or pinnated grouse, abound in the Big Woods, and in the country along the St. 
Croix Valley, in the wilderness along the St. Paul & Duluth road, and, in fact, are plentiful in all 
parts of the State, where there is shelter for them. And in these wooded districts, also, the little 
"cotton tail" and jack rabbits are plentiful. 

The Big Woods have a fair supply of gray and black squirrels, and at some places along the 
St. P., M. & M. road are so numerous as to be a pest to the farmers. 

Deer shooting, which begins November 1st and closes December 15th, is excellent in the upper 
part of the St. Croix Valley, along the line of the M. & St. L. railway from Rush City, through 
the pineries, to the shores of Lake Superior. The hunter can also have abundant success along 
the main line of the St. P., M. & M. road at almost any point north of Finneapolis. An item in 
one of the local papers mentioned the shipment of 05 saddles from a station on that line, during 
one day of the last deer season, and yet that was but a small portion of the number killed. Bear 
are also found in the wooded districts. The pineries in the vicinity of Snake river. Moose Lake, 
Kettle river, Hinckley, Mission creek, Pokegama Lake, and on the head waters of the St. Croix, 
afford the best of sport, both for deer and bear. 

For aquatic fowl, it is not necessary to travel far to get a fair day's sport. Any of our lakes 
or streams, a few miles from town, will yield a good supply of ducks. But those who wish big 
sport — to slaughter birds at wholesale — should seek the lakes in the country north of St. Paul, on 
the St. P. & D: railway, or those on the main and branch lines of the St P.,M. & M., where ducks, 
geese, brant and sand hill cranes are to be found in countless numbers. We have seen ducks rise 
from some of these lakes in incredible quantities, resembling the flight of flocks of pigeons from 
a roost. The lakes of Douglas, Todd, Kandiyohi and Otter Tail counties are famous for wild fowl. 

Woodcock shooting is not a remunerative sport, except for a little while during the early part 
of the season, and then only in a few localities. The river bottom near St. Paul and on the Min- 
esota river are the only places of any note where they are to be found in quantities ; fortunately 
the number of hunters who like the style this bird has of getting away is not great, so it leaves 
enough for the few who do. The St. Paul sportsmen usually set apart the 4th of July for a visit 
to "Pig's Eye," and Woodcock in that locality are kept on the zig-zag until they are pretty well 
tired out — or the shooters are — for their number is not materially decreased. A few woodcock are 
to be found about Osakis lake, and a dozen or two might be bagged in a morning's hunt. 

To the lovers of nature and the seekers after health and pleasure, the country through which 
the St. Paul & Manitoba road passes, offers attractions unequaled in the world. It has been but 
a few years in the possession of white men, and still preserves all of its natural features. East- 
ern Minnesota is covered with a dense forest, in which an immense number of lakes are concealed. 
These lakes vary in size from that of Lake Mille Lacs, the largest and finest sheet of water with- 
in the State— it being twenty-eight miles long— to the prettiest little grove-bordered pond imagin- 
able. These lakes abound in fish, and as many of them are connected, long journeys can be taken 
by water through the great forests. In this section the sportsman can, with his guide, guns, dogs 
and camp equipage, indulge in a hunt, and be as likely to come in contact with civilized human- 
ity, as he would were he in the heart of Africa, although still within the sound of the engine that 
darts through the forests followed by palace cars. Deer, bear, lynx, rabbits, ruffled grouse and 
■woodcock are among the variety of game, with pickerel, pike, perch, muscalonge, bass and white 
fish to vary the rustic bill-of-fare in camp. 

West from the timbered countiry comes the beautiful Park Region, a succession of open 
prairie and wooded spots, the undulated surface dotted with myriads of lovely lakes, surrounded 
in some parts by groves of stately trees, in others rippling at the base of a smooth lawn-like prai- 
rie, and in still others having picturesque bluflfs rising from their pebbly beaches. 

The great prairies of Dakota prove very attractive to many. In the harvest time thousands 
pay a visit to the great wheat fields, and watch the army of workmen and animals securing the 
golden grain. It is a sight worth a journey from the seaboard to witness. On this vast expanse 
of prairie the hunter finds elk, deer, antelope, jack-rabbits, all varieties of brant and duck, snipe, 
swan, crane, plover, grouse and prairie chicken. The best way to reach these is via the St. Paul, 
Minneapolis & Manitoba railway. 



SYNOPSIS OF GAME LAWS. 



MINNESOTA. 

The game laws of Minnesota prohibit the killing, and transportation and sale of game and 
brook trout except during the following dates: 

Woodcock, ----._. July 4 to November 1. 

Aquatic fowl, --_-__- September 1 to May 15. 

Quail or partridge, ruffed grouse or pheasant, - - Sept. 1 to December 1. 

Pinnated grouse or prairie chicken, _ _ _ September 1 to December 1. 

Elk and deer, - - - _ . _ _ Nov. 1 to December 15. 

Brook trout, - - - - _ _ April 1 to October 1. 

It is unlawful to break up or destroy the nests or eggs of game birds and all harmless birds, 
except wild pigeons and black birds ; also the taking of game of any kind in any manner except 
shooting with a gun. 

Spearing of fish in the lakes of Hennepin and Ramsey counties is prohibited. 

No fish except whitefish may be taken in any other way than by angling with hook and line, 
shooting with a gun or by the use of a spear, except in the waters of Lake Superior, the Missis- 
sippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers. 

If game is found in the possassion of individuals or transportation companies out of season, 
it is considered sufiicient evidence for conviction of violation of the game laws. 

Exportation from the State of all game birds except pheasants is prohibited. 

Hunters are forbidden to enter fields containing growing crops, not their own, with hunting 
implements or dogs, without permission of the owner of the premises, under penalty of punish- 
ment for trespass. 

Note — In most sections of the State, permission is easily obtained by observing the courtesy 
due the owners of land, and requesting permission. The exceptional cases occur where the privi- 
lege has been abused, and the rights of property trespassed upon. 

WISCONSIN. 

It is lawful to kill game in Wisconsin during the following dates: 

Woodcock, --____ July 10 to January 1. 

Quail or partridge, - - . _ . Aug. 25 to January 1. 

Pheasant or ruffed grouse, - - - - - Aug. 25 to January 1. 

Prairie chicken or pinnated grouse, _ _ _ Aug. 25 to Janu^ary 1 

Aquatic fowl, - _ . _ _ . Aug. 25 to January 1. 

Deer, _____ _ __ Sept. 15 to January 1. 

Otter, mink, martin, muskrat or fisher, - - - - November 1 to May 1. 

Brook trout, - - - . _ _ April 15 to Sept. 15. 

The taking of fish in any manner except by angling with hook and line is prohibited in all waters 
of the State except Lake Michigan. 

The law forbids the use of a net, snare, trap or spring gun, pivot or swivel gun in killing 
game birds, and the use of any float, sneakboat, sail or steamboat, floating box or similar device, 
and the chasing of deer with dogs; also the disturbing of any game birds — including pigeons — in 
their nesting, or breeding places. The law also prohibits the carrying out or exportation of game 
birds or animals, except wild pigeons and fur bearing animals. 

IOWA. 

The lo wa game law raakes it unlawful to take game except during the following dates : 

Prairie chicken, - - - - Sept. 1 to Dec. 1. 

Woodcock, - - _ - July 10 to Jan. 1. 

Quail or pheasant, _ _ _ _ Oct. 1 to Jan. 1. 

Wild turkey, - - _ _ . - Oct. 1 to Jan. 1. 

Wild duck, snipe or brant, - - - - Aug. 15 to May 1. 

Deer and elk, _ _ . . . _ Sept. 1 to Jan. 1. 

Beaver, mink, otter and muskrat, - - - - - Nov. 1 to April 1. 

Bass and wall-eyed pike, - - - - June 1 to April 1. 

Salmon and trout, - _ _ . Feb. 1 to Nov. 1. 

It is unlawful for any person to kill for traflSc any pinnated grouse or prairie chicken, snipe, 
woodcock,quail,rutl'ed grouse or pheasant,orfor any one person to shoot or kill during one day more 
than twenty-five of either of said named birds, or to have in possession more than that number 
at one time, unless lawfully received for transportation. 

Snaring, netting or trapping any birds or animals named (except fur bearing annimals), or 
destroying eggs or nests of birds are unlawful. 

Exportation of game birds'and animals is prohibited . 

The catching of fish in any manner except with hook and Une, snare, gun or spear is unlawful 



THE NORTHWESTERN MILLER 



JOB ADD BOOK PRINTING 



M 



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25 SOUTH SEGOND STREET, ■ • 

HAS THE JVIOST |\^ODERJ^J OUTFIT OF TYPE, PRESSES 
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ST.PAUl&DULUTHB 




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ALL POINTS ON THE GREAT LAKES 



ALSO DIEECT ROUTE TO 

White Berr Lake, Forest Lake, Chisago Lake, The Dalles of the St. Croix River, 
and the Dalies of the St. Louis River, 



BIIHI^IESO'TA^^ 




Those who desire, at a small expense, to have the real objects of a summer trip accomplished — a return of vigor and of appetite, 
tile perfect repair of an exhausted body or mind, with the appreciated acfdition of continued changes of scene, witli nnfatiKue, no 
ilupt, no anxiety of baggage, CI nnections nr hotel accommodations— will (iiiil itintlie cnol. clear and invisoratinK atnmsp' eiv n!' 
I.nke Superior, on steamers supplied with all the luxuries and modern iniprnvinients tliat cau add to llie comfort and plr-iisure of 
the travi-linT public. 

First C/lass Steamers leave Diiiuth Daily during" the season of 
Navi?j;atioii, for all principal ports on the Great Lakes. 

'I'ickets by this route on sale in all principal cities. - [ - 

^i WEO. H. SiilTH, «eii'l Siip't, St. TvaiL A. M. EDDY, (Jen'l Tkt. Aj?!., St. Ti^iil, |^ 



